LAHORE: Desperate to snap a five-match losing streak, Lahore Qalandars got off to the perfect start, but Usman Khan and later Usama Mir caused even more suffering for the two-time reigning champions.
On Tuesday, during their final HBL Pakistan Super League match at home in front of a raucous crowd at Gaddafi Stadium, captain Shaheen Shah Afridi sent the crowd into a frenzy when his in-dipper got an inside edge off his counterpart Mohammad Rizwan of the Multans Sultans before crashing onto the stumps.
However, after they opted to bat, they were mainly chasing shadows as Usman claimed the game with a brilliant 55-ball 96, forming excellent partnerships with opener Reeza Hendricks (40), Tayyab Tahir (21) and Iftikhar Ahmed (40 not out), leading the Sultans to an overwhelming 214-4.
The Qalandars needed a valiant effort to win, but despite a quick partnership-forming opening pair of twenty-four between Sahibzada Farhan (31) and Fakhar Zaman (23), leg-spinner Usama (6-40) tore through their middle and lower order to dismiss them for 154 with three overs remaining.
With each loss since taking home the championship the previous season, the Qalandars’ chances of making the playoffs are getting smaller.
However, the Sultans have won five straight and, given how easily they prevailed that evening, are now serious candidates for the crown that the Qalandars appear to be giving up.
Hendricks did not dwell on the early removal of Rizwan, the mainstay of the Sultans’ batsmen, as the South African opened the scoring for his team with six fours and a six in his 27-ball innings. After setting the tone with a couple of straight fours after a glimpse at Shaheen, he took on fellow countryman George Linde, hitting a six and a four off back-to-back deliveries to help his team end the powerplay at 53-1.
Usman was attempting to play the anchor role, but he managed to draw Sikandar Raza and then turn Carlos Brathwaite off his legs in four balls. But soon after Hendricks had shaken off the spinner for his boundary, he was caught behind by Raza, ending the 70-run partnership.
Before leading Brathwaite to the third man boundary, Usman crashed Raza to the cover fence to make sure it was just a small blip. The Sultans were 95-2 at the halfway point of their innings when he hammered a flat six off Brathwaite.
As Usman reached his fifty on the thirty-first delivery he faced, Tayyab took no time to settle in and drove Salman Fayyaz down the ground for his first boundary.
Usman completed the 12th over with a four after Tayyab’s clever touch off Jahandad Khan took him for a four behind the wicket.
Usman dismissed Linde for six over mid-wicket as the Sultans advanced, and Tayyab paddled him for four. Before Tayyab dug out in the deep, Usman hammered Brathwaite for four through the covers after dismissing a full toss from Zaman Khan at deep fine leg.
With five overs remaining, the Sultans were 151-3 and appeared to be heading for a total of more than 200. Iftikhar, however, kept them on course with an 18-ball blitz that started when he hit Jahandad for four overs extra cover.
Usman crushed Zaman for back-to-back boundaries, but he was lucky to be floored by Brathwaite at backward point on 89. Iftikhar was hit by Shaheen on the grill, but the right-hander recovered to smash two consecutive sixes; first over deep extra cover, then over deep fine, and finally concluding the eighteenth over with a cut for four.
As the Sultans reached 200 runs, Jahandad was hit for a six, and Usman went to within four runs of a century with his eleventh boundary, only to be caught on the leg side by Shaheen in the final over.
With the first ball of the reply, Farhan and Fakhar gave Qalandars the much-needed head start in the huge chase. The former drove Mohammad Ali for four through the covers, while the latter removed Khushdil Shah for four. Then, Khushdil was driven over for a second boundary in mid-off.
At the beginning of the third over, Fakhar hit his first boundary by cutting Ali past backward point. He then got his second off Shahnawaz Dahani with a square drive, and Farhan made sure the fifth over finished well by hitting three consecutive fours to take his team to fifty runs.
After Fakhar hit another four to start the sixth, Aftab Ibrahim found the yorker and Fakhar was cleaned up two balls later. Six balls later, Farhan made a mistake on a sweep from Khushdil and was caught by Aftab at short fine leg.
After a sluggish start, Rassie van der Dussen (30) stretched his arms and hit Chinaman Faisal Akram (2-25) for six over far on, only to be caught at deep square two balls later. But after 10 overs, Faisal had Kamran Ghulam (12) caught at deep mid-wicket, leaving Qalandars at 91-3.
After Raza (17) struck two sixes off Usama in the next over, the Zimbabwean attempted to go for another big hit but found Hendricks at deep mid-wicket, so Faisal ordered him back.
After pushing Usama for six wide of long-on, Shaheen moved up the order and was eventually stumped three balls later by the leggie. After an over, Usama returned to dismiss Van der Dussen for a deep catch. He then claimed two wickets in two deliveries, first catching Linde behind and then uprooting Jahandad’s off-stump to leave the Qalandars struggling at 133-8 with four overs remaining.
Before Usama came back to get Salman caught at mid-off after the tailender had smashed him for a six over long-on, Brathwaite scored some significant blows. Usama then completed the Qalandars innings by getting Zaman caught in the deep for his career-best T20 numbers.
Outcome: Multan Sultans won by a score of sixty runs.
