PSL 2022 | Lahore Qalandars defeat Islamabad United in last over thriller

Lahore Qalandars snatched the game out of the jaws of defeat against Islamabad United on Saturday, 5 February. Down and out by the 15th over of the second innings when Islamabad United needed 39 runs from the last 5 overs with 8 wickets in hand, Qalandars struck back with their fast bowlers to eke out 2 crucial points.

Defending 175 from 20 overs, Lahore had started fairly well by removing the dangerous Alex Hales and Paul Stirling, inside the powerplay overs. While they would have liked to build on the momentum, they were hit by a roadblock named Colin Munro who fought on despite his well known weakness against spin. He raked up 60 off 45 balls and combined with Shadab Khan’s 52 off 32 put Islamabad United in a great position to win the game. However, incredible bowling from Lahore in the final five overs of the game, turned the tide around and stifled Islamabad. They ended up losing the game by eight runs.

The pressure was built by the duo of Haris Rauf and Shaheen Shah Afridi, whose mix of lengths between them worked up the batsmen. Needing 12 from the final over, Afridi had his arms around Zaman Khan for all of six balls and made sure that his bowler did not lose any confidence.

Earlier in the day, Lahore Qalandars had a flying start owing to their opening combination of Fakhar Zaman and Abdullah Shafique. The duo showed their intent in the very first over going straight after Hasan Ali and depositing him for 17 overs.

They carried the momentum from that over and ended up posting 73 runs at the end of the powerplay. However, Islamabad struck with 5 wickets in the next five overs, completely halting the momentum of Shaheen Afridi captained franchise. Shadab Khan was the wrecker in chief picking up four wickets in that phase of play. He dismissed the prized duo of Zaman and Shafique and then removed Mohammad Hafeez and Phil Salt in the 12th over. 

With the game stuck at 98/5 veteran David Wiese and young Harry Brook showed some resistance and their partnership of 51 runs off 32 balls was largely the reason behind Lahore managing to put something respectable on board. They would have gone on to score more if not for Waqas Maqsood’s triple wicket final over where he conceded just 7 runs and dismissed Brook, Afridi and Haris Rauf.

With the win Lahore now have six points to their name from four matches while Islamabad have four points from their four games played.