On Wednesday in Rawalpindi, Lahore Qalandars defeated Islamabad United 17-run in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) season 9, ending their losing streak. With constant dismissals, Lahore defended a 163-run mark better than United. As Shadab Khan’s team struggled, wickets fell quickly in the early innings. Shaheen Afridi dismissed Alex Hales (0) in the opening over. Agha Salman followed, adding 4 runs off Zaman Khan’s bowling.
Shadab (7) was bowled clean by a superb yorker, causing more batting problems. The rapid dismissals of Colin Munro (15), Imad Wasim (7), and Jordan Cox (7) left the team in danger with several crucial players back in the pavilion.
With 35 runs, Azam Khan and Faheem Ashraf attempted a comeback. Naseem Shah performed a cameo to keep two-time champions in contention after Azam (29), was dismissed.
PSL 9: Qalandars overcome United after losing streak
The visitors lost openers Sahibzada Farhan (2) and Fakhar Zaman (10) in the batting powerplay, leaving them with 16 runs. The Qalandars lost Shai Hope (6) in the sixth over, taking their total to 30/3 in the seventh over. Qalandars captain Shaheen Shah Afridi moved up to No.5 in the batting order after the slump.
He made a quickfire cameo and shared 46 runs with van der Dussen before falling to Islamabad United’s Shadab Khan in the 11th over. Afridi scored 14-ball 30 with four sixes.
Rassie van der Dussen survived and briefly partnered with Sikandar Raza (4) and Ahsan Hafeez Bhatti (13) before dying in the 18th over. The Qalandars’ top scorer was Van der Dussen with 64 off 44 deliveries, including four boundaries and equal sixes.
Late in the game, David Wiese’s unbeaten 24-run cameo helped Lahore Qalandars. His 11-ball innings had 3 boundaries. Rumman Raees led Islamabad United’s important PSL 9 bowling assault with 2/19, while Naseem Shah, Hunain Shah, Imad Wasim, Faheem Ashraf, and Shadab each took a wicket.
Naseem scored a 16-ball 27 before Shaheen Afridi took his 100th PSL wicket. Faheem had Qalandars on the backfoot till Zaman removed Rumman Raees to conclude the United innings. The left-hander scored five boundaries to be undefeated on 31-ball 41. Shaheen scored 2/32 and Zaman 4/37. Batting first, the defending champions scored a competitive total thanks to Rassie van der Dussen’s half-century.
