DUBAI: In the 24th match of Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2018, Lahore Qalandars defeated Karachi Kings in a thrilling contest in Dubai in the Super Over.
Kings failed to chase down the 12-run target set by Qalandars in the super over.
Karachi had set the target of 164 runs for the Lahore Qalandars earlier. Babar azam and Simmons had a 72-run partnership that played crucial role in the Kings’ fighting total. They provided a concrete ground for Kings to set up a high score.
The openers of Lahore, Zaman and Devcich, started brilliantly and contributed 28 and 24 runs respectively. Afterwards, Salman made 50 keeping the pace.
The match came to a point where Qalandars needed 16 runs with 6 balls left.
A boundary and a sixer followed by a wicket created an exciting situation. Now 3 runs were left to be scored at one ball. Sohail Akhtar had hit it big but was caught at the boundary. However, it turned out to be a No-Ball. There was some drama there too since the field umpire hadn’t caught the No-Ball and it was judged later by the TV umpire.
This created further confusion as the players were not aware of the rule that if the no-ball is judged through TV replays, the runs earned through running would not be counted. There was a single off the last ball and the scores were thus tied.
Mohammad Amir came to bowl the super over from Karachi Kings and on the first ball Fakhar Zaman was run-out, trying to take the second run. Apart from the two Wide balls, Amir didn’t provide much room to the batsmen and the only boundary hit during the over was sheer class of the Lahore captain Brandon McCullum who made something out of a perfect delivery, hitting over the Mid-Off fielder for a boundary.
Sunil Narine was given the ball to deliver the game for Qalandars as the Kings were set a target of 12 runs off one over. Narine was spot on with the first ball, leaving no space for the batsman to create room. Next ball was played for a single by his fellow West Indian Lindel Simmons.
Collin Ingram tried hitting it big on the third ball but was caught out by McClenaghan in the deep. Shahid Afridi joined Simmons on the crease after this but the fourth ball of the over was a quicker one and Simmons was unable to read it. He hit one straight to McCullum at Long Off, off the bounce, and could only manage a single of the fifth one.
The game was over. Afridi did hit the last ball out of the park for a six but Lahore Qalandars won the match by 3 runs in the super over.
Agha Salman was declared Man of the Match. Lahore continues to stay last on the table while Karachi Kings remain ranked 3rd. This is the first time in PSL history that Lahore has won two consecutive matches. They had beaten Multan Sultans in their previous match.