Lahore Qalandars Saturday beat Islamabad United by eight runs in the 12th match of the Pakistan Su-per League (PSL) at the National Stadium in Kara-chi.
Despite their strong performance, Islamabad skipper Shadab Khan and Colin Munro failed to secure a win for their team against Qalandars. Shadab played a captain’s knock by smashing 50 off 29 deliveries. However, he had to go back to the pavilion after scoring 52 runs from 32 balls with two fours and four sixes. The batsman was dis-missed by Rashid Khan.
Earlier, his lethal spell wrecked Lahore Qalan-dars’ batting line-up. He bagged four wickets and conceded just 20 runs in his four-over spell.
Skipper Shaheen Afridi drew the first blood for his team when he dismissed Alex Hales in the third over of the innings. Haris Rauf sent Paul Stirling in the fifth over.
Colin Munro was the top scorer for his team as he made 60 runs from 45 balls with five fours and three sixes.
Earlier, Lahore Qalandars handed a 175-run tar-get to Islamabad United in the 12th match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) at the National Sta-dium in Karachi.
United’s bowlers destroyed the middle-order batting line of Lahore Qalandars as they lost three crucial wickets in the last over restricting the batters to set a 175-run target.
United’s skipper Shadab Khan drew the first blood for his team after bowling out Abdullah Shafique in the eight over of the match.
Shadab Khan and Waqas Masood took four scalps each. While the skipper managed to send Qalandars ace batter Fakhar Zaman back to the pa-vilion. Masood took three wickets in his last over.
However, the team’s openers steered the team to a 174-run total. Experienced Fakhar Zaman made 38 runs off 27 balls with four fours and one six.
Abdullah Shafique made 44 precocious runs off 24 balls with six fours and one six. Harry Brook, however, added 37 runs to his team’s total.
Two-time PSL champions Islamabad United are playing their fourth fixture today and are eyeing the first spot on the points table.
Qalandars will be under extreme pressure as United have shown sheer dominance when the two sides have met in PSL, but an improved and in-form Lahore Qalandars today’s clash is going to be an exciting one.—Agencies
