Lahore Qalandars scored 200 for the second day in a row as they gave Islamabad United a target of 201 to go on top of the table in PSL 8. Islamabad United 10 free runs in the first over as Shaheen Shah Afridi bowled two wide balls, which went for four runs.

They scored another seven runs in the second over to score 21 runs in two overs and matched the required run rate. Zaman Khan gave Lahore Qalandars a breakthrough in the fourth over when he got the wicket of Rahmanullah Gurbaz for 23 runs. Colin Munro greeted Haris Rauf in the next over by hitting him for a four and a six. But David Wiese dismissed him for 18 runs in the sixth over. Islamabad United finished the batting powerplay with 56 runs in six overs and needed 145 runs in 14 overs to win. David Wiese and Rashid Khan picked up wickets in regular intervals as Islamabad United lost seven wickets for 81 runs. Sikandar Raza wrapped things up for Lahore Qalandars by picking up last two wickets and they booked the top position of the table with 110 runs big victory. Lahore Qalandars got off to a good start as they scored 12 runs in the first over of Zeeshan Zameer, with both Fakhar Zaman and Tahir Baig hitting a boundary each.The in-form pair of Fakhar Zaman and Tahir Baig scored 57 runs in six overs of batting powerplay. Shadab Khan broke their partnership in the seventh over as he bowled Tahir Baig for 20 runs.

Lahore Qalandars lost another wicket in the eighth over as Fakhar Zaman was bowled by Tom Curran after scoring 36 runs and defending champions lost second wicket for 62 runs. Abdullah Shafique and Sam Billings had a partnership of 71 runs for the third wicket but Tom Curran dismissed both of them to dent Lahore Qalandars’ progress.

Abdullah Shafique scored 45 runs off 24 balls whereas Sam Billings scored 33 runs off 23 balls. Shadab Khan got his second wicket when he dismissed Hussain Talat for six runs and Lahore Qalandars were 149 for loss of five wickets after 16 overs. Lahore Qalandars lost their sixth wicket for 159 runs but then Sikandar Raza and Rashid Khan had a partnership of 40 runs off 20 balls to make sure that target was at least 200. Rashid Khan got out while trying to hit a big shot, but he did his job fairly when he was dismissed for 18 runs off 12 balls.

Skipper Shaheen Shah Afridi took a run with a bye to make sure Lahore Qalandars reached 200 for the loss of seven wickets.Lahore Qalandars did not make any change in their playing XI and retained the same side which defeated Peshawar Zalmi the previous day. Islamabad United included Zeeshan Zameer in place of Mubashir Khan and included Tom Curran in place of Fazalhaq Farooqi.

Published in The Daily National Courier, February, 28 2023

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