Lahore Qalandars fast bowler Zaman Khan (player of the match) produced a stunning final over conceding a mere three runs with 12 needed for a win by Islamabad United to earn a thrilling win for his side in the 12th fixture of the HBL Pakistan Super League 7 played at the National Stadium, Karachi on Saturday.
The right-arm pacer dismissed Asif Ali (14) on the penultimate ball of the match before bowling a dot ball to Faheem Ashraf to seal his side’s dramatic eight-run win.
Zaman’s heroics helped Qalandars overcome Shadab Khan’s outstanding all-round contribution in the match. The United captain continued his tournament’s red hot form with bat and ball but failed to take his side to victory.
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After producing a four-fer with the ball which took him to the top of the season’s wicket-takers list, Shadab scored 52 with the bat (32 balls, two fours, four sixes) adding 100 runs for the third-wicket with Colin Munro who followed up on his player of the match performance against Quetta Gladiators in the previous match with 60 off 45 balls (five fours, three sixes).
Shadab who collected a five-fer in United’s win against the Gladiators, produced another quality spell to finish with figures of 4-0-20-4.
Qalandars have now won three out of their four matches and have jumped to the second spot on the points table behind Multan Sultans. United have won two and lost two out of their four matches.
Other performers
Put into bat – the 26th consecutive time a captain opting to field first after winning the toss in an HBL PSL match at the National Stadium, Qalandars lost their way after a blazing 83-run start provided by openers Abdullah Shafique (44 off 24 balls, six fours, one six) and Fakhar Zaman (38 off 27 balls, four fours, one six).
From 83 for no loss, Qalandars crashed to 98 for five in a space of 23 balls with United bowlers led by Shadab running through the batting order.
Harry Brook (37) and David Wiese (20) revived the Qalandars innings with a 51-run sixth-wicket stand. Qalandars finished their 20 overs at 174 for nine, left-arm pacer Waqas Maqsood picked up four wickets in the death overs as Qalandars aimed for some big runs.
Player of the match Zaman Khan: “I just tried to enjoy the final over as asked by Shaheen Shah Afridi and before I knew I had bowled the whole over enjoying myself. I was guided throughout the over by Shaheen who told me what ball to bowl and when and that helped me immensely.”
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