HBL Pakistan Super League: Qalandars edge Sultans by one run in last-ball thriller

Monitoring Desk Published February 14, 2023

MULTAN Sultans’ batter David Miller is cleaned up by Lahore Qalandars’ pacer Haris Rauf during their HBL PSL match at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Monday.—AFP

MULTAN: As Mohammad Rizwan gave himself room to swing his arms, Shaheen Shah Afridi hit the bulls-eye; the Lahore Qalandars skipper coming up trumps in a battle with his Pakistan team-mate with a perfect yorker to dismantle the stumps of the Multan Sultans captain and setting up a grandstand finish in the opening game of the eighth edition of the HBL Pakistan Super League at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Monday.

Rizwan’s 75 had put Sultans on top but after his dismissal, the Qalandars sensed blood. The Sultans, chasing 176 to win, needed 42 runs off the last four overs and Haris Rauf backed his skipper by giving away just four runs in the 17th over.

David Miller got lucky in Shaheen’s next over with an inside edge that went for four but he was soon walking back for 19 when Haris’ searing yorker undid him in the penultimate over.

In a topsy turvy finish, Kieron Pollard smashed Haris for a six and four to leave the Sultans needing 15 runs of the final over.

It was a question of which team was going to hold its nerve and Zaman Khan responded to the Qalandars’ cause. After Pollard was run out for 19 off 12, Zaman had Usman Khan lbw before Usama Mir was run out.

Khushdil Shah, though, kept the Sultans in the hunt when he hit Zaman’s full toss for a four to leave his side needing six of the last ball. Khushdil got another boundary but it wasn’t enough as the Sultans finished on 174-6 in response to Qalandars’ 175-6.

For Qalandars, it was a second successive win over the Sultans after their victory in the final of the last edition.

Fireworks had lit up the sky for the opening ceremony and then it was time for the Fakhar Zaman show. The left-handed opener looked imperious when he smashed Usama for a flat six — his fifth of the innings — over mid-on. Fakhar looked to be driving the Qalandars to an imposing total only for the Sultans to pull back the strings.

Usama (2-25) it was who began the recovery as Qalandars slipped from 119-1 to 125-4 in the space of 11 deliveries by the start of the 14th over.

Shai Hope, aiming to replicate Fakhar in the same over, found the elevation but not the distance as Usama had him caught at mid-on for 19 before Ihsanullah (2-35) rattled the stumps of Kamran Ghulam in the next over.

Attempting to break the shackles, Fakhar went after Usama when he returned in the following over and only found Akeal Hossein at deep backward square leg with a sweep. In his 42-ball 66, Fakhar also hit three boundaries while sharing a brisk 61-run opening stand with Mirza Tahir Baig (32).

After Fakhar’s departure, the Sultans could’ve heaped more misery on the Qalandars only for Shahnawaz Dahani to miss a gilt-edged opportunity to run out Hussain Talat with Sikandar Raza (19 not out) adding insult to injury by dispatching the pacer for a six and a four in the same over.

Hussain got on the act, hitting two fours in an 11-ball 20, before becoming Ihsanullah’s second victim in the penultimate over.

Dahani then bowled a superb final over to restrict the Qalandars under 180 whilst dismissing the dangerous Wiese lbw on the final ball of the innings.

The Sultans made a brisk start but for three overs, starting from the 10th, the Qalandars had stopped the boundaries.

It was the breakthrough that they needed and Shaheen brought Hussain into the attack and the part-time medium pacer broke the 100-run opening stand when Shan Masood’s flick off his legs went straight into the hands of Zaman at short fine leg.

Shan’s 31-ball 35 had featured four boundaries but it was Rizwan who was the key wicket. The dismissal brought David Miller to the crease and the South African ended a 28-ball boundary drought when he drove David Wiese for two fours in the next over.

The pressure was back on the Qalandars and the Sultans seemed to be on the victory charge with Rizwan lifting Hussain over midwicket for the first six of his splendid innings and following it with his eighth four. But Shaheen returned to the attack and changed the spectre of the game.

SCOREBOARD

LAHORE QALANDARS:

Batters & mode of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR

Fakhar Zaman c Hosein b Usama 66 42 3 5 157.14

Mirza Tahir Baig c Usama b Hosein 32 26 5 0 123.07

Shai Hope c Pollard b Usama 19 17 1 1 111.76

Kamran Ghulam b Ihsanullah 3 6 0 0 50.00

Sikandar Raza not out 19 14 1 1 135.71

Hussain Talat c Usama b Ihsanullah 20 12 1 1 166.66

David Wiese lbw b Dahani 5 4 1 0 125.00

EXTRAS (B-1, NB-1, W-9) 11

TOTAL (for six wickets, 20 overs) 175