LAHORE – Defending champions Lahore Qalandars repeated history as they advanced to the event final after beating Peshawar Zalmi by four wickets in Eliminator 2 of Pakistan Super League (PSL) season eight at their home ground.
Afridi-led squad will now lock horns with Multan Sultans in a rematch of the 2022 final on Saturday (tomorrow) at the Gaddafi Stadium.
Chasing not so difficult 172, the hosts got the score in 18.5 overs. The squad earlier faced blows as big wig Fakhar Zaman returned to the hut on mere 6. Debutant Ahsan Hafeez then handed catch to Haseebullah after playing a knock of 15 runs.
INTO THE FINALS 👏@lahoreqalandars set up a rematch with @MultanSultans for the Saturday showdown after completing an excellent chase today 👌#HBLPSL8 | #SabSitarayHumaray | #LQvPZ pic.twitter.com/yYFKdEwowk
— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) March 17, 2023
Abdullah Shafique and Mirza Tahir Baig then gained momentum. After Shafique’s exit, Sam Billings came and advanced his side.
Mirza Tahir Baig remained under the limelight as scored 54 runs in 42 balls with the help of seven fours and two sixes. Sam Billings was cleaned up by a superb yorker by Salman Irshad, scoring 28. Sikandar Raza scored 22 runs in 13 balls.
Skipper Shaheen Afridi smashes a maximum and boundary to advance his team to the finals.
In the first half of the game, Yellow storm scored 171-5 in 20 overs. Zaman Khan got Saim Ayub on 9. With major wicket in hand, Qalandars struggled to get more wickets as Babar Azam and Mohammad Haris stitched 89 runs for the second wicket.
Rashid Khan got two wickets in the same over to send Babar Azam and Tom Kohler-Cadmore back to pavilion. Haris however continued show and went on to score 85 runs in 54 balls.
