KARACHI: Karachi Kings thrashed Lahore Qalandars by five wickets in the final to win the Pakistan Super League 2020 title at the National Stadium Karachi here on Tuesday night. Chasing a modest target of 135, Karachi, led by Imad Wasim and coached by former Test captain Wasim Akram, raced home in 18.4 overs for the loss of five scalps. Babar Azam played an undefeated scintillating knock of 63 tomake sure his team lift the coveted trophy. Karachi began their innings in style, with openers Babar and Sharjeel Khan both hitting two boundaries each in the first two overs. Lahore had their first breakthrough in the fourth over with Sharjeel (13 off 12) getting caught splendidly by Fakhar Zaman off Samit Patel’s first ball.Alex Hales, who contributed 11 runs from as many balls, was bowled out by DilbarHussain in the seventh over.Babar and Chadwick Walton then piled on runs as Karachi reached 110-2 in 15 overs.With Karachi still needing 11 from the last three overs, Haris Rauf struck on back to back deliveries to remove Iftikhar Ahmed(4) and Sherfane Rutherford (0).Despite the late hiccup, Babar’s unbeaten innings was enough take Karachi over the finish line.
Earlier, Karachi speedsters Waqas Maqsood, Umaid Asif and Arshad Iqbal captured two wickets each to restrict Lahore to 134 for the loss of seven wickets in their 20 overs. The top scorer for Lahore was Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal, who scored 35 off 38 balls while Fakhar chipped in with a 24-ball 27, after Lahore captain Sohail Akhtar won the toss and opted to bat first. Lahore’s batting got off to a strong start with Fakhar and Tamim putting 30 runs on the scoreboard between them in five overs. By the end of the 10th over, the duo managed to score 68 runs for Lahore without any loss of wicket.The spell was broken soon after whenTamim fell to Umaid, who also dismissed Fakhar. Both openers were caught by Iftikhar. More good news followed for Karachi, with in-form Mohammad Hafeez (2 from 4) caught by Babar off skipper Imad on the first ball of the 12th over. He was replaced by Samit, who contributed five runs from eight balls before being caught off Arshad. Lahore were 94-4 at the end of 15 overs.Ben Dunk (11 off 144) also fell to Arshad, taken at deep midwicket by Babar. Sohail (14 off 14) and Muhammad Faizan (0) were both dismissed by Waqas. Shaheen Shah Afridi hit a six and a four in the very last over as Lahore finished their innings at 134-7. The PSL had started on February 20 and 30 and matches were played until March 15, when the tournament was stopped due to Covid-19 pandemic. The playoffs began on Saturday.