Fakhar Zaman’s blitzing 66 along with Zaman Khan and Shaheen Afridi’s brilliant bowling display helped Lahore Qalandars beat Peshawar Zalmi by 29 runs on February 2.
The Qalandars became only the second team in the Pakistan Super League 2021-22 to successfully defend the title in the ongoing edition. The Shaheen Afridi-led side defeated Peshawar Zalmi by 29 runs in the ninth match at National Stadium in Karachi.
For Lahore Qalandars, there were multiple heroes with bat and ball. Fakhar Zaman blasted 66 while Shaheen claimed two for 19. Zaman Khan, who snared three for 32, was awarded the ‘player of the match.’
PZ were given a target of 200, in pursuit of which they were rocked back early as Shaheen Afridi’s searing yorker on the third ball of the innings knocked over Hazratullah Zazai.
Kamran Akmal, playing the first match of the season, looked in sublime touch with his 41 off 24, but Hussain Talat struggled at the other end, managing 15 off 24.
Haider Ali scored 49 off 34 while Sherfane Rutherford hammered 21 off 11, but they didn’t get anywhere near the target as Shaheen produced another death overs bowling masterclass.
Earlier, the Qalandars posted 199/4 batting first on the back of some strong performance from the batters. The opening pair of Fakhar and Abdullah Shafique put on a 94-run stand in 10 overs. Shafique was dismissed for 41 off 31 while Fakhar blasted 66 off 38.
Despite that fantastic start, it looked like Lahore could fall way short of 200 at one stage. But 37* off 19 from Mohammad Hafeez and Rashid Khan’s eight-ball 22* powered them to 199.
Lahore Qalandars moved to the second position on the points with this victory, having claimed four points from three games with a net run-rate of 0.557. Peshawar Zalmi, on the other hand, are placed fifth with one win out of three, and their NRR read pretty bad at -1.182.
Brief scores
Lahore Qalandars: 199/4 in 20 overs (Zaman 66, Shafique 41; Irshad 2/47)
Peshawar Zalmi: 170/9 in 20 overs (Ali 49, Akmal 41; Khan 3/32, Shaheen Afridi 2/19)
