Summary Katachi Kings suffered third loss in as many matches in Pakistan Super League on Thursday.
LAHORE: (Web Desk) – Karachi Kings won the toss and chose to bowl first. Fakhar Zaman came out to bat after McCullum scored a duck and took the bowlers on right from the start. Lahore Qalandars were given a brilliant start by Zaman, who was assisted brilliantly by Roy and Umar Akmal. At one point Lahore clearly seemed poised to score over 200 runs, crossing the 100-run mark just one ball after the completion of tenth over. However, they kept losing wickets in regular intervals afterwards and were restricted to 179 for 7, courtesy some excellent bowling by Amir and Usman Khan Shinwari in the final overs of the innings.
Karachi Kings batted brilliantly through the middle overs but the task proved to be a bit too hard and fell short by 7 runs.
Karachi Kings openers once again failed to give their side a good start as Chris Gayle fell cheaply in the second over after scoring just 5 runs followed soon by Babar Azam who made 9 runs. Karachi Kings captain Kumar Sangakarra and Shoaib Malik joined hands and gave their side a hope of winning the match with a 101-run stand for the third wicket.
Sangakarra scored 65 runs and was bowled by Sohail Tanvir in the 15th over while Shoaib Malik fell in the next over after scoring 39 runs. After their departure Karachi Kings wickets fell at regular interval and they managed 172 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in their quota of 20 overs.
Lahore Qalandars innings
Lahore Qalandars started off shakily on Thursday against the arch rivals Karachi Kings as skipper Brendon McCullum was gone for a duck, leaving the team 12 for 1.
But Fakhar Zaman came out blazing for the Qalandars and within no time the team had reached 57 runs in 5.2 overs when Roy threw his wicket away trying to paddle away Sohail Khan. He had scored 26 runs off just 16 balls with the help of 2 boundaries and a six by the time he got out.
Zaman continued to strike the ball sweetly despite this. He joined forces with Umar Akmal who was quick to reach his 25 off 15 balls. But the next ball Akmal faced, he went for the obligatory blunder of his innings and threw his wicket away trying to play an inside-out shot. Qalandars were thus 104 for 3.
Fakhar Zaman continued for a while along with Rizwan then but lost his cool 15 runs later. He was trying to go for a big heave but ended up skying it only for Usman Khan Shinwari to catch it running backwards from point.
Rizwan and Grant Elliott kept the scoreboard ticking though with their ones and twos and the occasional boundaries. However, Usman Khan bowled a brilliant 17th over, in which he gave away only two runs though couldn’t get a wicket. The over piled up the pressure on to the batsmen and opened Rizwan the next over when he got LBW off Sohail s yorker trying to sweep him - quite unbelievably. Although it looked plum in front initially but the replays showed that the ball was going down the leg side.
Narine was able to bring home some good loot in the next 7 balls with the help of a six and a boundary, taking the score to 175 at the end of 19 overs. But Amir was simply brilliant in the last over of the innings as he got Elliott out with a perfect bouncer on the first ball of the over. Elliott only managed to glove it to Sangakara waiting behind the wickets. Two balls later, Narine also gave up, trying to send the ball over the midwicket boundary and not managing to clear it in the process.
The last three balls gave away only three runs and thus Amir was able to puck up two wickets in the final over of the innings for just four runs, restricting Lahore Qalandars to 179 where they once seemed poised to cross 200-run mark after completing 100 runs in just 10.1 overs.
Karachi Kings innings
Karachi Kings came out to bat with a massive 180-run target. Chris Gayle was yet again a disappointment as he was able to score just 5 runs with a boundary before he got out. He was caught by Umar Akmal off Narine s bowling when Karachi Kings were just 7. Babar Azam was the next to go. He scored 9 runs off 10 balls with one boundary to his name. He was caught by Bilawal Bhatti at the Third Man boundary off Irfan s bowling, leaving Kings 28 for 2.
However, the Kings bounced back brilliantly with Sangakara and Shoaib Malik taking full advantage of Qalandars loose bowling. Sangakara continue to strike the ball sweetly despite the wickets falling around him reaching 39 runs off just 28 balls with 6 boundaries. Bilawal Bhatti bowled slow and short allowing Karachi Kings batsmen to free their arms, although the bowler was given some excellent support in the deep by the fielders.
Sangakara and Malik shifted the gears after the 10th over as Malik sent Elliott over the boundary twice in the 12th and then Sangakara following it up with a boundary and a massive six off Yasir Shah s bowling in the 13th. The two then completed their 100-run partnership with a wide by Sohail Tanvir. It took the experienced campaigners just 64 balls to achieve the milestone. However, Sohail Tanvir got Sangakara in the same over, breaking his stumps on the 4th ball off the over. The Sri Lankan national scored 65 runs off 45 balls with the help of 8 bounaries and 1 six. Kings were 122 for 3, needing 58 off 32 balls.
Shoaib Malik wasn t able to keep the game going after Sangakara s fall and got caught at Third Man boundary by Sohail Tanvir off Bhatti s bowling trying to hit one out of the park. Pollard and Bopara kept trying and Pollard did manage to strike a boundary too but he was undone by Narine s brilliant bowling in the 17th over. By the end of 18th over, Karachi Kings still needed 33 runs to win the match with 5 wickets in hand.
Sohail Khan sent the first ball over the boundary line for six. It was a length ball on his pads and he smashed it over the midwicket boundary for maximum. However, Bopara was runout on the 5th ball of the over. Amir then came in to join Sohail Khan and sent the first ball he faced for the maximum too. It was a stunning stroke over the bowler s head. Karachi was then left with 18 runs to chase down in the last over.
Amir decided to give it a fight then; and he was able to hit a boundary on the 3rd ball as well, though unconvincingly. He was unable to send the next one, however, and scored one run only. Sohail Khan was then had a tough ask to score 12 runs off the last 2 balls but his leg-stump was knocked out of the ground. Usama Mir was then given the impossible task to score 12 runs off the last ball which he couldn t but hit a consolation boundary off the last ball. Lahore Qalandars won the game by 7 runs.
