In a nail-biting finish, the Lahore Qalandars defeated Peshawar Zalmi by four wickets and moved to the Pakistan Super League’s (PSL) final, where they will face Multan Sultans and battle it out for the title of season eight.
Chasing the 172-run target, Lahore reached home in 18.5 overs.
Lahore lost Fakhar Zaman (6) early after he has castled while trying to play a big heave. Azmatullah Omarzai was the successful bowler.
Meanwhile, Ahsan Hafeez, who was playing his first PSL match, handed a simple catch to wicketkeeper Haseebullah after he top-edged a ball from Wahab Riaz. The left-hander scored 15 runs in 10 balls.
After a big mixup between Abdullah Shafique and Mirza Tahir Baig, the former was sent packing. The right-hander scored run-a-ball 10.
Shafique’s departure brought Sam Billings to the crease, who along with Tahir got Lahore’s run-chase back on track with a crucial 50-run partnership in only 28 balls.
However, Tahir was dismissed after reaching his maiden T20 fifty with Aamer Jamal bagging the crucial scalp. He scored 54 runs in 42 balls with the help of seven fours and two sixes.
Billings was cleaned up by a superb yorker by Salman Irshad. He scored 28 valuable runs in 21 balls. Meanwhile, Sikandar Raza scored 22 runs in 13 balls.
Shaheen Afridi smacked a six and four in the 19th over to get his team over the line.
Defending champions Lahore will face Multan Sultans in a rematch of the 2022 final on Saturday (tomorrow) at the same venue.
