By Sohail Ali
LAHORE, Feb 11 (APP):Sensational Lahore Qalandars ended the winning streak of Multan Sultans with their fourth victory in the HBL PSL 2022 when they routed the champions by 52 runs in the 17th fixture of the T20 League here at jam-packed Gaddafi Stadium on Friday night.
Chasing the target of 183 runs, Multan Sultans – the most consistent team of PSL 7 – couldn’t start well due to brilliant bowling by captain Shaheen Shah Afridi, who sent packing Shan Masood – one of the finest batsmen of Sultans as well as PSL 7 – at a total of 1-14 in the third over, when he was playing at his individual score of 8 runs.
Sultans batter then started batting sensibly and took the total to 58 when bowling sensation Rashid Khan took two quick back-to-back wickets in the ninth over. The wickets of Sultans continued to fall on regular intervals and no big knock was witnessed from the unbeaten team, which could save the skin of Sultans, thus Multan team had to face their first defeat in PSL 2022.
Those, who succeeded to cross the double figures, were Sohaib Maqsood (29), Tim David (24), Khushdil Shah (22), and captain Muhammad Rizwan (20). Haris Rauf (2-20), Zaman Khan (2-21), Shaheen Shah Afridi (2-26), Rashid Zaman (2-33) bowled superbly for Lahore Qalandars.
Earlier put into bat first, brilliant batting by star opener Fakhar Zaman helped Lahore Qalandars post a decent total of 182-4 in the allotted 20 overs. Fakhar Zaman played 60 balls to smash a blistering 60 runs which included five boundaries and two maximums. Fakhar has been exceptional since the beginning of the PSL 2022, scoring four half-centuries and a ton. Fakhar’s 60-run innings helped him complete his 400 runs in this edition of the PSL.
Besides Fakhar, the other key batters from host team, Lahore Qalandars, were former Pakistan captain Muhammad Hafeez and Kamran Ghulam. Hafeez scored quickfire 29-ball 43 runs with the help of three sixes and one boundary while Kamran Ghulam played 38 balls to crack 42 runs that included six boundaries.
Phil Salt also excelled with bat in the dying moments of Qalandars innings as he hammered two boundaries and one six in his 26-run knock that helped Qalandars made the total more challenging. Anwar Ali, Imran Tahir, Shahnawaz Dahani and Abbas Afridi bowled well for Multan Sultans and took one wicket each.
