LAHORE: Defending champions Lahore Qalandars defeated Peshawar Zalmi by 4 wickets in Eliminator-2 to secure a place in the final of the Pakistan Super League-8 at Gaddafi Stadium here on Friday evening. Lahore will clash with Multan Sultans for the coveted trophy at the same venue on Saturday (today). The final was scheduled for Sunday (tomorrow) but considering the inclement weather forecast in Lahore for Sunday, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) decided to hold the final today. As a back-up, the PCB has also kept Sunday and Monday as reserve days for the decider amid prediction of rain. According to MeT office, the probability of rain on Saturday was less while heavy rain is more likely on Sunday.
Chasing victory target of 172, Lahore raced home for the loss of six wickets in 18.5 overs. Mirza Tahir Baig was the star batsman for the winners with his dazzling knock of 54 off 42 balls. Lahore lost Fakhar Zaman (6) early to Azmatullah Omarzai after he has castled while trying to play a big heave. Ahsan Hafeez, who was playing his first PSL match, handed a simple catch to wicketkeeper Haseebullah after he top-edged a ball from Wahab Riaz. The left-hander scored 15 runs in 10 balls. Abdullah Shafique was sent packing after he scored run-a-ball 10. Shafique’s departure brought Sam Billings to the crease, who along with Tahir got the Lahore’s run-chase back on track with a crucial 50-run partnership in only 28 balls. However, Tahir was dismissed after reaching his maiden T20 fifty with Aamer Jamal bagging the crucial scalp. His knock included seven fours and two sixes. Billings was cleaned up by a superb yorker by Salman Irshad. He scored 28 valuable runs in 21 balls while Sikandar Raza scored 23 runs off 14 balls. Skipper Shaheen Shah Afridi smacked a six and four in the 19th over to get his team over the line.
Haris leads Peshawar to 171: Earlier, Peshawar opted to bat first keeping in mind that Lahore were yet to win chasing in PSL-8, and no chasing side had triumphed yet at Gaddafi Stadium this year. The first half of the match was dominated by Mohammad Haris’ breath-taking strokeplay. The young attacking top-order batter smashed 85 off 54, which included 11 fours and two sixes, after arriving at the crease in only the second over. Haris put up an 89-run partnership with his captain Babar Azam, who missed what would have been his PSL-8’s sixth half-century by eight runs, to lay a perfect platform for a big total. But Rashid Khan’s double strikes in the 12th over that sent back Babar (42 off 36) and Tom Kohler-Cadmore (0 off two) brought down the scoring rate and after that no batter fired as Peshawar Zalmi would have hoped. Bhanuka Rajapaksa made 25 not out off 18 and Haris added 49 runs with the Sri Lankan before he was dismissed on the last ball of the 18th. Zaman Khan picked up Peshawar’s first and last wicket as he bowled both Saim Ayub (nine off five) and Aamir Jamal (one off three) in the first and last overs to return two for 20 off three. Rashid returned two for 42 from four. The two finalists – Multan and Lahore – will take on for the fourth time in this edition. In the previous three encounters, Lahore have come out victorious twice, while Multan Sultans defeated them in the most recent match, the Qualifier, which was played on Wednesday.