LAHORE: The Lahore Qalandars appeared to have the game won, with a partisan home crowd at the Gaddafi Stadium on Saturday supporting them in anticipation of their much anticipated first HBL Pakistan Super League triumph. However, the Karachi Kings cruelly stole the victory at the last second.
It was doomsday once more for the two-time defending champions as Mir Hamza’s edge off the final ball sailed past the wicketkeeper for four. They have now lost four straight games, and with each one, their hold on the championship is getting weaker.
The Kings required 11 runs from the final over in yet another dramatic conclusion. Things looked good for them when Hasan Ali hit spinner Ahsan Bhatti for a six on the opening ball, forcing Qalandars to make an unpopular decision after all of their pacers had bowled their quota.
Despite Hasan’s departure on the last delivery, when he was caught by an advancing Haris Rauf and wounded himself in the process, Hamza scored the winning runs to give his team a two-game winning streak.
Sahibzada Farhan’s unbeaten 72 at the start of the game helped the Qalandars post 175-8, and they were on their way to ending their losing streak when they reduced the Kings to 44-4. It was a game where momentum swung from one side to the other.
However, the Kings got back into the game because to a 95-run partnership between Kieron Pollard (58 off 33) and Shoaib Malik (39), which set up their eventual victory.
After winning the toss, the Kings decided to bowl, and their decision paid off when Hamza got rid of danger man Fakhar Zaman with the first ball of the third over. Shan Masood sprinted back from mid-on to collect the ball after the left-hander skyed him.
Rassie van der Dussen struck three fours, but the Qalandars and Farhan got off to a poor start. Despite this, they ended the powerplay, in which the Kings used five bowlers, at 32-1.
After the spinners dried up the boundaries, Tabraiz Shamsi trapped Van van Dussen lbw for 26, giving the Kings their reward.
Ahsan attempted to increase the pace, but Hasan was hit direct to Kieron Pollard, and because of Farhan’s first four, they are only able to reach the halfway point at 59-3 with Qalandars’ run rate being lower than run-a-ball.
After launching Shamsi over long-on with the first delivery of the 11th over and smashing the first six of the innings, Jahandad Khan (12) had a lucky escape after being declared leg before wicket when a review determined that the South African leggie had overstepped.
In the twelfth over, Farhan made his debut by hitting Daniel Sams for a four and a six on the legside. Subsequently, he skillfully altered the blade’s face, seemingly hitting a paddle shot at first, to score four at third man.
However, Jahandad’s promising partnership came to an end when Pollard single-handedly snatched the ball on the long-on boundary, ending Jahandad’s innings.Shah Hope (age 21) scored two runs on two balls; Sams, rushing in from point, fumbled the first, and Nawaz could not hold onto a fast return. He celebrated his survival by holing to Malik at long-on after hitting Shamsi for back-to-back fours and a massive six.
Farhan didn’t let the momentum go as Qalandars entered the final five overs at 114-5. He launched Hasan for six over deep mid-wicket, but he continued to lose partners when Sikandar Raza left the field early.
After hitting Sams for six to get his fifty off 35 balls, George Linde completed the 17th over with a four-ball down the ground. To begin the eighteenth, Farhan struck a Hazma full toss back from where it came from for his fourth six, and he added another four down the line.
With two fours and a six off the final over bowled by Sams, Linde (26 not out) made sure Qalandars finished well. Hasan gave up just six runs in the penultimate over. This lifted the team to a formidable total.
The first breakthrough came for his team when Farhan, who had been turned back by Akhlaq, reacted fast at short cover to hit the ground at the non-striker’s end where Shan (10) was well short.
With left-arm spinner Ahsan clattering on the stumps as the Englishman tried to cut, James Vince fell on the fourth delivery after hitting a pair of boundaries on the first three he faced.
With Akhlaq behind Jahandad and the Kings down at 27-3, the decision review method was beginning to show its advantages.
Mohammad Nawaz (15) had a brief burst of form. He smashed three well-placed and timed fours, two of which came off Zaman Khan, before the bowler trapped him with a yorker at the conclusion of the sixth over.
After Linde and Pollard both hit sixes in consecutive overs bowled by the spinner, the West Indian along with Malik kept the scoreboard moving, bringing the Kings to 79-4 at the end of the tenth over.
The Kings had hope longer while the seasoned pair stayed at the crease, and Pollard unleashed after they had raised the score to 109-4 at the conclusion of the 14th over. After forcing Jahandad to run for four, Pollard struck him for two consecutive sixes, the second of which was a one-handed shot over long-on to bring his tally to fifty runs off just 29 balls.
In the 16th over, with 47 needed from the final five overs, Pollard sent Shaheen Shah Afridi for six over long-on, but the Qalandars captain restored his team’s hopes by catching the powerful right-hander in the covers.
Once again, the home audience found its voice and began to celebrate when Shaheen defeated Malik of Haris Rauf, who had turned the corner after scoring a lot of runs in earlier games.
Zaman increased the intensity by dismissing Sams with a perfect yorker, but the Kings still had hope when Irfan Khan turned the pacer away for four. They were set up by Hasan’s six, and even though he was dismissed with the penultimate ball, Hamza brought the Qalandars to an end.
SOURCE: DAWN NEWS
