The Englishman blasted 102* off 49 as Lahore Qalandars defeated Islamabad United by 66 runs at Lahore on February 19.
The Qalandars have almost secured their top two spot on the points table with a comprehensive victory over United on Saturday. They now sit at the second place with 12 points from nine games and have a significant advantage with a net run-rate of +0.852 over third-placed Peshawar Zalmi, who have 10 points and a net run-rate of -0.381.
Harry Brook was the star of the match as he hammered an unbeaten 102 off 49 to take LQ to 197/6. The side’s bowling quartet picked two wickets each to restrict Zalmi to 131/9.
As it happened, Lahore’s decision to bat first was immediately put under a test as Faheem Ashraf dismissed Phil Salt and Kamran Ghulam in his first over with some early movement. Mohammad Hafeez was run out in the next over, and the Qalandars were reeling at 12/3.
Brook launched an excellent counterattack to pull the team out of trouble. Fakhar Zaman was steady at the other end, scoring 51 off 41 and added a 101-run partnership for the third wicket in just 10.3 overs.
Brook continued his onslaught and scored second fifty off just 21 balls to register a magnificent century, coming in at a difficult situation. A fantastic rebuilding job to save Lahore Qalandars in front of a packed Lahore crowd that will be remembered for a while.
In response, Rahmanullah Gurbaz got Islamabad United off the blocks quickly with an 11-ball 20 but they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. United, playing without their star-studded batting line-up of Alex Hales, Colin Munro and Shadab Khan for various reasons, had no answers to the quality of Qalandars’ bowling unit.
Shaheen Afridi, Rashid Khan, Haris Rauf and Zaman Khan claimed two wickets each as they completed a convincing 66-run victory.
Brief scores
Lahore Qalandars – 197/6 in 20 overs (Brook 102*, Zaman 51; Ashraf 3/28)
Islamabad United – 131/9 in 20 overs (Dawson 31, Aziz 30; Khan 2/19, Afridi 2/28)
