Lahore Qalandars clinched the trophy for the second time in a row by defeating Multan Sultans by one run in the final of Pakistan Super League 8 (PSL) after a thrilling contest.
Chasing 201 runs, Multan Sultans managed to score only 199 runs for the loss of eight wickets in 20 overs. Riley Russo scored 52 and Mohammad Rizwan scored 34 runs. On behalf of Lahore, Shaheen Shah Afridi dismissed four players.
Multan needed 13 runs in the last over but managed to score only 11 runs due to Zaman Khan’s excellent bowling.
Lahore Qalandars won the toss and elected to bat first at Qadhaqi Stadium on Saturday. And thanks to Abdullah Shafiq’s 65 and Shaheen Shah Afridi’s 44 runs, they scored 200 runs for the loss of six wickets in 20 overs. Osama Mir took three wickets for Multan.
The final was scheduled to start at 7pm local time, but the match was delayed by about 15 minutes due to a floodlight outage.
Multan Sultans innings
Chasing a big target of 201 runs, Multan Sultans openers got off to a good start. Mohammad Rizwan and Usman Khan took Shaheen Shah Afridi with open arms and hit brilliant fours.
Shaheen lost 34 runs in his first two overs. David Wiese came in to bowl in this phase and gave Qalandars their first breakthrough by bowling Usman Khan.
Riley Russo came in at one-down position and beat the Lahore bowlers well. He did not let the run rate drop and completed his half-century in 30 balls with the help of seven fours and two sixes. He also had a partnership of 64 runs with Mohammad Rizwan.
Rousseau’s aggressive innings was broken by Rashid Khan and bowled him.
Rashid Khan gave the Qalandars a big shock over Multan Sultans in his last over, dismissing Mohammad Rizwan. David Wiese took his brilliant catch on the boundary.
Shaheen Shah Afridi, who was hit by Kieron Pollard for three sixes in an over in the last match against Multan, faced off again in the 16th over of the match. Pollard hit him for a boundary first but he was caught out by Shaheen on the next ball.
Shaheen Shah Afridi, who had taken the team out of trouble with his batting, also wreaked havoc on Multan’s lower order in the bowling. He first caught out dangerous batsman Tim David in his last over and then sent Anwar Ali and Usama Mir to the pavilion on the fifth and sixth balls.
Multan Sultans needed 35 runs in the last two overs and Khushdil Shah and Abbas Afridi were on the wicket. The 19th over was bowled by Haris Rauf which turned out to be a nightmare for him. First, Khushdil Shah put a six on them to burn away the dying hopes of Multan, and then Abbas removed the rest. He hit Harris for a six and two fours. And 22 runs in the over.
Only 13 runs were needed in the last over and victory was not far from Multan but Zaman Khan came in between the two and gave Lahore the final win. Four runs were required off the last ball but Khushdil Shah managed to score only two runs and was run out trying for the third run.
Lahore Qalandars innings
Mirza Tahir and Fakhar Zaman from Lahore started the innings. Mirza, whose excellent batting helped Qalandars to reach the finals, also started well today and played excellent shorts. On the other hand, Fakhar Zaman looked overwhelmed in front of Multan Sultans pacers.
Ehsanullah, whose pace and excellent bowling played an important role in taking Multan Sultans to the final, continued to be a headache for the Lahore Qalandars openers in his first over today. Mirza Baig was caught trying to play one of his short-pitched balls, he scored 30 runs with the help of five fours and a six.
Fakhar Zaman, like the last three matches, looked like he was struggling in the beginning but later on he played some good shorts. He and Abdullah Shafiq formed a partnership of 57 runs. At one point, Lahore Qalandars looked to be in a strong position but then Mohammad Rizwan brought in the spinners and the momentum shifted in favor of Sultans.
Usama Mir sent Fakhar Zaman to the pavilion in his very first over, he was dismissed for 39 runs off 34 balls.
Sam Billings was the third player out of Lahore Qalandars. He was bowled by Osama Mir after scoring only nine runs. On the very next ball, Osama got Ahsan Hafeez lbw for zero.
The fifth player to get out was Sikandar Raza, he was bowled by Khushdal Shah for just one run.
With five wickets down, it looked like Lahore might not be able to score 150, but then Shaheen Shah Afridi decided to replace David Wiese at this juncture of pressure, and then everything went in Qalandar’s favour.
Shaheen Shah Afridi took a very aggressive approach and charged the Multan bowlers well. He scored 44 runs not out in 15 balls with the help of five sixes and two fours.
He also had a partnership of 66 runs off 29 balls with Abdullah Shafiq. Abdullah also played well with Shaheen and sported beautiful shorts. He scored 65 runs off 40 balls and was caught out by Anwar Ali.
Both the teams did not make any changes in their playing XI and maintained their winning combination.