Multan Sultans defeated Lahore Qalandars by 28 runs in the qualifier of HBL PSL 7 played at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore and reached the final of the tournament. Chasing 164 runs, Lahore Qalandars managed to score only 135 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in the stipulated 20 overs.
In pursuit of the desired target, Lahore Qalandars’ first wicket fell when Abdullah Shafiq (17) was LBW on the ball of Asif Afridi. Kamran Ghulam and Mohammad Hafeez were also dismissed for 20 and 0 respectively.
In-form batsman Fakhar Zaman batted brilliantly and scored his seventh half century in the tournament. The left-handed batsman hit four sixes in the twelfth and thirteenth overs of the innings and tried to turn the tide, but he was dismissed for 63 off 45 balls in the 15th over. He shared a 54-run stand with Harry Brook for the fourth wicket. Harry Brook was dismissed for 13 runs.
Samit Patel (11), Phil Salt and Shaheen Afridi were out for one run each.
Lahore Qalandars needed 38 runs in the last 2 overs to win but Ruman Raees took one wicket for just two runs in the 19th over to further strengthen the grip of Multan Sultans in the match. Lahore Qalandars lost 9 wickets in the allotted 20 overs on a total of 135 runs.
Shahnawaz Dhani got three wickets while David Willey got two wickets. Ruman Raees, Asif Afridi and Khushdil Shah took one wicket each.
Earlier, Lahore Qalandars won the toss and elected to field first. In the second over of the innings, Mohammad Hafeez dismissed the in-form opener Shan Masood for an individual score of 2. Aamir Azmat, who came on the field at number three, did put up some resistance but he too got out on an individual score of 33.
After losing two wickets for a total of 50, Multan Sultans captain Mohammad Rizwan took the crease along with veteran batsman Rilee Rossouw and tried to take the game to the last over by batting responsibly. The duo put on an unbeaten 113 off 79 balls for the third wicket to take the team’s total to over 160. Rilee Rossouw remained unbeaten on 65 with the help of a six and seven fours. Mohammad Rizwan played an unbeaten innings of 53 runs off 51 balls with three fours.
Muhammad Hafeez and Samit Patel took one wicket each.
