KARACHI, Jan 30 (Asia Free Press): Fakhar Zaman’s century helped Lahore Qalandars claim their first victory in the HBL PSL 7, defeating the home side Karachi Kings by 6 wickets at National Stadium Karachi.
Qalandars, opted to bowl first after wining the toss, restricting the home side to 170-7 after facing all the possible deliveries.
The opening pair of Kings, the skipper Babar Azam and the hard-hitter Sharjeel Khan provided their team 84 runs partnership. Sharjeel lost his wicket after scoring 60 runs in 39 balls, smashing 8 fours and 3 gigantic sixes in his knock. Babar Azam played yet another innings with a slow run-rate, scoring 41 runs in 33 deliveries.
Qalandars’ bolwers performed well against Kings batters. Haris Rauf, who proved to be expensive in the previous match aginst Sultans, today conceded 33 runs in his spell by claiming 3 important wickets. Besides, the skipper Shaheen Afridi, Muhammad Hafeez, Zaman Khan and Rashid Khan got 1 wicket each.
Pursuing 170 runs, Qalandars were slow in the first half of their innings, but played really well in the last 10 overs.
Fakhar Zaman got his maiden PSL century, which helped the team to win the contest. He scored 106 runs in just 60 balls, including 12 fours and 4 massive sixes in his splendid knock. Samit Patel scored 26 and M.Hafeez scored 24 runs. Zaman got Man of the Match award.
Kings bolwer Umaid Asif took 2 wicket in his four-over spell while conceding 30 runs. Imad Waseem conceded 28 runs with 1 wicket.
Michael Gough and Richard Illingworth were the field umpires where as Ahsan Raza was supervised as a TV umpire while Sri-Lankan Ranjan Madugalle performed the duty of Match Referee.
So far, in the points table, Rizwan-led Multan Sultans serve the top position by wining their first two fixtures where as Islamabad United stands 2nd and the Babar Azam-led Karachi Kings stand at the very last after facing three defeats in a row.
On January 31, only one match will be played in the HBL PSL 7. The defending champions Multan Sultans will face Quetta Gladiators at 7:30 pm at National Stadium Karachi.
