LAHORE: Karachi Kings finished the tournament on a high as they trounced table-toppers Lahore Qalandars by 86 runs in the last match of the league stage of the HBL PSL 8 at the Gaddafi Stadium here on Sunday night.
Chasing a challenging total of 196-8, Lahore Qalandars meandered, stumbled and lost their way at 110-9 when Mohammad Umer claimed the wicket of Haris Rauf in the penultimate over of the match.
Lahore Qalandars, led by stand-in captain David Wiese after Shaheen Shah Afridi opted to rest, never looked to chase a challenging target of 197 runs as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. All-rounder Hussain Talat was the most successful batter for the Qalandars with 25 runs off as many balls while Fakhar Zaman 13 (11), Kamran Ghulam 11 (10), Sam Billings 11 (13) and Haris Rauf 18 (14) were the others to enter double-figure.
Abdullah Shafique 2 (6), David Wiese 2 (7), and Shane Dadswell 3 (4) could not get going after the pressure of a big total took its toll on the Qalandars batters who lost both of their matches against the arch-rivals Karachi Kings in the HBL PSL 8.
Rashid Khan 6 (13) as he retired hurt after an viciously turning googly by Imran Tahir hit him in the helmet and he was taken out as a precautionary measure. Zaman Khan 6 (7) remained unbeaten.
Akif Javed was the most economical bowler for the Kings who conceded eight runs in three overs and grabbed two important wickets of in-form batters Abdullah Shafique and Kamran Ghulam. Imad Wasim, Imran Tahir and Mohammad Umar also picked two wickets each for 26, 24 and 20 runs.
The Kings outsmart Qalandars in all areas during the match which had academic value only as it did not change the standings of the top four teams led by Lahore Qalandars (14 points) and followed by Multan Sultans (12), Islamabad United (12) and Peshawar Zalmi (10). However, Karachi Kings managed to move past Quetta Gladiators to the fifth spot due to a better run-rate although both the teams had 6 points from 10 matches.
Earlier, Karachi Kings posted a challenging total of 196-7 courtesy two fifty plus runs partnerships for the second wicket and fifth wicket after they lost early wicket of Haider Ali who fell for 8 runs in the first over of the match off the bowling of Dilber Hussain. Muhammad Akhlaq, playing his first match of HBL PSL 8, top scored with 51 (36) runs and added 70 runs for the second wicket with Tayyab Tahir 40 (23). Both the batters plundered 68 runs in the first six overs of the innings.
Kings captain Imad Wasim 45 (31) and Ben Cutting 33 (14) notched up another 52 runs partnership for the fifth wicket while Cutting’s innings included two 4s and three 6s. Qasim Akram 2 (3) and Irfan Khan 0 (2) fell cheaply while James Fuller and Mohamamd Umar returned unbeaten on 10 (5) and 1 (2) respectively.
Haris Rauf, Zaman Khan and Hussain Talat claimed two wickets each while Dilbar Hussain grabbed one wicket for 37 runs. Ace leg-spinner Rashid Khan went wicketless and conceded 30 runs in his quota of four overs. Haris Rauf and Zaman Khan were the other two bolwers from Qalandars who bowled four overs for 52 and 7 runs respectively. Dilbar Hussain and Hussain Talat bowled three overs each and conceded 37 and 24 runs. David Wiese bowled one over for 6 runs.
Muhammad Akhlaq was adjudged ‘player of the match’ for his impressive knock which helped Karachi Kings an insurmountable total of 196-8.
After two days of rest, Lahore Qalandars will face off Multan Sultans in the qualifier of the HBL PSL 8 on March 15 (Wednesday) at the Gaddafi stadium while the eliminator 1 will be played between Islamabad United and Peshawar Zalmi at the same venue on March 16 (Thursday). The loser of the qualifier and winner of eliminator 1 will meet in the eliminator 2 on March 17 (Friday) at the same venue to decide the second team to play final of the HBL PSL 8 on March 19 (Sunday) at the Gaddafi stadium.
