KARACHI: Karachi Kings have defeated the Lahore Qalandars in the final of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) at National Cricket Stadium on Tuesday evening.
Lahore Qalandars won the toss elected to bat first in the final of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) at National Cricket Stadium. Qalandars have scored 134 at the loss of 7 against the Karachi Kings.
The Kings began their innings in style, with openers Babar Azam and Sharjeel Khan both hitting two boundaries each in the first two overs.
Karachi Kings’ coach Wasim Akram has dedicated the win to Dean Jones, saying that it’s the late Jones’ hard work that had brought this about.
THAT WINNING FEEL 🥇🏆🎉#HBLPSLV #PhirSeTayyarHain #KKvLQ pic.twitter.com/sCuJEDL5Vg
— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) November 17, 2020
While Babar Azam’s unbeaten 63 would likely steal the headlines, the victory was actually built on the uphill struggle done by Karachi’s unheralded, uncapped and unknown medium-pacers Umaid Asif, Waqas Maqsood and Arshad Iqbal
The trio laid the foundation over which Babar later capitalized and got his side the victory in a comfortable run chase.
Umaid, Waqas and Arshad combined to bowl 12 over for Karachi, gave away just 62 runs and picked up six wickets – two apiece.
Neither has ever played at the highest level but still proved more than a match for Lahore’s studded, in-form batting line-up that threw away a solid start.
From 68-0, they managed a meek 134-7 as the openers’ slow batting put pressure on the rest of the batters, who, in their attempt to up the scoring rate, kept losing wickets. The proverbial fireworks kept on getting postponed and in the end never came.
Lahore Qalandars innings
While batting first, Qalandars were off to a steady start with openers Tamim Iqbal and Fakhar Zaman scoring 68 runs together. But, wickets of both the openers in quick successions put the batting side under pressure.
Tamim Iqbal was off to a good start but his knock of 35 runs off 38 balls slowed down Qalandars’ score. Fakhar was caught off Umaid Asif after scoring 27 with the help of four boundaries.
Sohail Akhtar and David Wiese scored 14 runs each and both couldn’t stay for long at the crease. Shaheen Shah Afridi expressed his batting skill with a six off Mohammad Amir in last over of the inning. The left-handed batsman scored 12 runs.
For Kings, Waqas Maqsood, Amir, and Arshad Iqbal took two wickets each while Imad Wasim picked up one.
👑 ON 🔝@iamwaqasmaqsood dismisses the @lahoreqalandars captain.#HBLPSLV #PhirSeTayyarHain #KKvLQ pic.twitter.com/tBbnvgyAuB
— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) November 17, 2020
The final is being played after a gap of nearly eight months after the PSL’s fifth edition came to a halt due to the coronavirus pandemic.
