LAHORE: Explosive knocks by Ben Dunk and captain Sohail Akhtar powered Lahore Qalandars to a stunning eight-wicket win over Karachi Kings in a high-scoring match on Sunday to keep their chances alive for the title with six points from seven matches.

Chasing a target of 188, Qalandars made a sedate start, scoring 63-2 in the first 10 overs. But they exploded in the second half of their innings, plundering 127 runs in nine overs and romping home with five deliveries to spare.

Dunk and Akhtar turned the match their way with a third-wicket stand of 140 off 65 balls.

Dunk turned the game on its head with his ferocious strokeplay to set a new PSL record of 12 sixes in an innings. In the process he broke his own record of 10 sixes he had hit against Quetta Gladiators at the same ground last week.

Dunk and Sohail brought up 100 runs of their partnership off just 44 balls, the former contributing the lion’s share with 69 runs. They came together at 50-2 in the ninth over after the Qalandars had lost Fakhar Zaman (five) and Muhammad Hafeez for a sluggish 16 off 24 balls.

They launched their onslaught in the 12th over after Dunk was dropped by Rizwan at mid-wicket. Dunk cracked three sixes in the next over off Umer Khan, pushing his side’s total beyond the 100-mark.

At this stage Lahore Qalandars required 84 runs from 42 balls at a rate of 12 runs per over. Sohail brought up his 50 with five fours and two sixes from 34 balls.

Ben Dunk struck two sixes off Cameroon Delport in the 14th over, forcing Kings’ captain Imad Wasim to bring back pacer Aamir, but this made no difference as he conceded 15 runs. But the most expensive over was still to come as Dunk exploded into his merciless best when skipper Imad Wasim came in to bowl. He first hit his seventh six to complete 50 off 23 balls and then slammed two more sixes and a four to collect 22 runs from that over.

Earlier, Karachi Kings piled up 187-5 in 20 overs after being asked to bat, thanks to brilliant knocks by unbeaten Alex Hales (80), Chadwick Walton (45) and Babar Azam (38).

Current standings

(Tabulated under played, won, lost, tied, no-result, points, net run-run-rate):

Multan Sultans 7 5 1 0 1 11 +1.547

Peshawar Zalmi 8 4 3 0 1 9 -0.021

Islamabad United 9 3 5 0 1 7 +0.259

Karachi Kings 7 3 3 0 1 7 -0.249

Lahore Qalandars 7 3 4 0 0 6 -0.053

Quetta Gladiators 8 3 5 0 0 6 -1.052

Scoreboard

KARACHI KINGS:

Sharjeel Khan run out 5

Babar Azam c Sohail b Maaz 38

A.D. Hales not out 80

C.S. Delport c and b Maaz 15

Iftikhar Ahmed run out 1

C.A.K. Walton c Wiese b Salman 45

Imad Wasim not out 0

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-1, W-1) 3

TOTAL (for five wkts, 20 overs) 187

FALL OF WKTS: 1-10, 2-70, 3-90, 4-94, 5-187.

DID NOT BAT: Aamir Yamin, C.J. Jordan, Mohammad Amir, Umar Khan.

BOWLING: Shaheen Shah Afridi 4-0-36-0 (1w); Patel 4-0-24-0; Maaz Khan 4-0-31-2; Usman Khan Shinwari 3-0-44-0; Wiese 1-0-11-0; Mohammad Hafeez 2-0-11-0; Salman Irshad 2-0-28-1.

LAHORE QALANDARS:

Fakhar Zaman b Ami 0

Sohail Akhtar not out 68

M. Hafeez c Delport b Umar 16

B.R. Dunk not out 99

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-5) 7

TOTAL (for two wkts, 19.1 overs) 190

FALL OF WKTS: 1-2, 2-50.

DID NOT BAT: S.R. Patel, D.J. Vilas, D. Wiese, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Salman Irshad, Usman Khan Shinwari, Maaz Khan.

BOWLING: Mohammad Amir 4-0-33-1 (3w); Aamir Yamin 1.1-0-9-0; Imad Wasim 3.5-0-40-0; Jordan 4-0-36-0 (1w); Umar Khan 3-0-37-1; Delport 3.1-0-33-0 (1w).

NOTE: Imad Wasim completed Aamir Yamin’s unfinished second over.

RESULT: Lahore Qalandars won by eight wickets.

UMPIRES: M.A. Gough (England) and Shozab Raza (Pakistan).

TV UMPIRE: Asif Yaqoob (Pakistan).

MATCH REFEREE: Mohammad Anees (Pakistan).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Ben Dunk (Lahore Qalandars).

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2020