Qalandars one win away from finals after beating Kings

LAHORE: The Lahore Qalandars are one more win away from the Pakistan Super League (PSL) finals, after they beat the Karachi Kings in Thursday night’s eliminator.

King’s Innings

The third ranked Kings batted first, putting 190 runs on the board as the fourth ranked Qalandars took eight wickets along the way. Karachi skipper David Warner did his best to keep his team truding forward, scoring 75 off 52, as his teammates struggled to stay on the pitch. Tim Seifert, James Vince, Saad Baig, and Irfan Khan were all dismissed short of 20 runs, before Warner was sent off himself in the 16th over. Khushdil Shah had the second highest score for the Kings with an unbeaten 27.

The Qalandar’s Haris Rauf took three wickets including that of Baig, Mohammad Nabi, and Abbas Afridi, the latter two both coming in the 18th over. Shaheen Shah Afridi had two wickets, dismissing Tim Seifert and Hasan Ali. Zaman Khan, Shakib Al Hasan, and Mohammad Naeem each had one wicket, with Naeem having the most vital dismissal of the night, sending off Warner.  

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Qalandar’s Innings

Lahore had a more balanced batting offensive than their opponents. Fakhar Zaman got Lahore off to a strong start, scoring 47 off 28, hitting five fours and three sixes in the process. Abdullah Shafique and Kusal Perera had the largest partnership of the game, putting 83 runs on the board. Shafique would finish with highest score out Lahore’s line-up, scoring 65 off 35, while Perera had 30 off 24. Bhanuka Rajapaksa’s unbeaten 23 helped propel Lahore over the finish line, which he did in style, hitting a game winning swivel pull for a six.  

The Qalandars only lost four wickets during their innings, as Hasan Ali recorded the dismissal of Mohammad Naeem and Shafique, while Mir Hamza and Fawad Ali took the wickets of Perera and Zaman respectively.

Warner signs off

Despite the King’s season coming to an end, David Warner was proud of what his team was able to accomplish.

“I’m just extremely proud of the guys,” Warner said following the match, adding that “the results didn’t go our way tonight, but what we’ve done and what we’ve achieved in this time, I’m really proud.”

“I’m looking forward to coming back and I just want to say thanks to all the fans.”

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