Qalandars clinch victory over United in nail-biting thriller

By
Faizan Lakhani

February 21, 2017

SHARJAH: A brilliant and long awaited half-century by Umar Akmal, and late brilliant batting by Grant Elliott helped Lahore Qalandars achieve their third win in the second edition of Pakistan Super League by beating Lahore Qalandars by one wicket in the 14th match of the tournament at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Monday.

Chasing a target of 146 runs, Lahore suffered early hiccups and lost 5 wickets with merely 69 runs on the board.

Cameron Delport (12), Brendon McCullum (11), Fakhar Zaman (6), Mohammad Rizwan (3) and Mohammad Irfan (o) returned to the pavilion, as a disciplined bowling and athletic fielding by Islamabad United kept Lahore Qalandars struggling in the chase.

But, Umar Akmal remained defiant and kept the scorecard moving in Lahore’s favour from the other end and added 41 runs in 30 balls with Grant Elliott for the sixth wicket partnership before falling prey to googly by young Shadab Khan.

Akmal scored 66 off 42 deliveries, his long awaited knock included three sixes and eight boundaries to help Lahore Qalandars recover from early hiccups and lay the foundation for Lahore Qalandars to sail through.

Lahore, then, once again got panicked and lost three quick wickets, but Grant Elliott smashed Mohammad Sami for a six off the second delivery of the last over to complete the win for Lahore Qalandars.

Grant Elliott scored 26 off 17 deliveries, while Sunil Narine smashed two sixes to score 12 runs of five deliveries.

 Earlier, some late fireworks by young Shadab Khan helped Islamabad United post 145/8 in 20 overs after Lahore Qalandars won the toss and elected to field first.

Islamabad was six down with just 83 on board in 14th over, but 18-year-old Shadab Khan and his partner Amad Butt added 53 runs for the 7th wicket in just 33 deliveries.

Shadab Khan smashed three sixes and two fours to score 42 off 24 balls before being run out on the last delivery of the innings. Amad Butt scored 17 off 16 with the help of one sixer and one boundary.

For Lahore, Aamer Yamin got three wickets for 17 runs, while Yasir Shah got two wickets, conceding 27 runs from his quota of four overs.

The win has put Lahore Qalandars on the second position on the points table with six points from six games, ahead of Islamabad United on Net Run Rate.