Daily Times

Lahore Qalandars claimed their third straight victory of the HBL Pakistan Super League5 when they defeated Peshawar Zalmi by five wickets in a nail-biter in front of a packed-to-capacity Gaddafi Stadium here on Tuesday evening. Chasing a 188-run target, Lahore finished at 189 for the loss of 5 wickets with just one ball remaining — a visual that was really a high-octane stuff. Fakhar Zaman remained their top scorer, hitting 63 runs from 46 balls while Chris Lynn contributed 59 from 32 balls as the two batsmen added 116 runs for the second wicket to help Lahore overhaul the target. Their stand came after captain Sohail Akhtar (21) had combined with Fakhar, later declared player of the match for his match-winning innings, to provide a 50-run start, before a mix-up ended the former’s innings following a flat and accurate throw by Haider Ali from deep mid-wicket at the striker’s end. There were late jitters in Lahore’s run-chase following the dismissals of Chris Lynn, Fakhar, Mohammad Hafeez and Ben Dunk, who departed in a space of 12 balls for 14 runs. Lahore needed eight runs from the final over and David Wiese and Samit Patel did not disappoint, with Wiese seeing his team home in style with a six off the second last ball of the innings.

Earlier, Haider and Shoaib Malik both scored half-centuries, boosting Peshawar’s total, despite their loss of early wickets. Peshawar made 187-7. They were 35-3 after five overs. After losing the toss, Peshawar were put into bat. They suffered an early setback when Shaheen Shah Afridi dismissed Tom Banton off his first bowl, caught by Mohammad Hafeez. Shortly after, in-form Patel took Liam Livingstone’s wicket. He scored a disappointing 4 runs off 5 balls before heading to the pavilion. The dangerous Kamran Akmal hit a four and a six each before he got out, caught by Haris Rauf from a Patel delivery. Reeling from an early loss of three wickets inside of four overs, the side managed to recover courtesy the performances by Haider and Malik. Malik, who scored 62 runs off 43 balls, was dismissed off Wiese’s delivery when he miscued his shot and sent it down to Fakhar at long on. After Malik’s dismissal, Lewis Gregory (8 off 4 balls) and Ali (69 off 43 balls) followed him off Shaheen and Dilbar Hussain, respectively. Wahab Riaz was sent packing next, after having scored just one run. He was taken out by Shaheen, who took three wickets over the course of the innings.

Lahore’s victory has opened up the tournament with second-placed Peshawar Zalmi separated by sixth-placed Quetta Gladiators by three points. Multan Sultans are already assured of a place in the playoffs, as they sit pretty on 11 points from seven matches. Karachi Kings are fifth with seven points, but have three matches in hand. However, the sides in trouble are former champions Islamabad United (seven points from nine matches) and defending champions Quetta (six points from eight matches).