Lahore Qalandars finally broke their losing streak and inflicted a 17-run defeat on Islamabad United during the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL) season nine in Rawalpindi on Wednesday.
Lahore had an upper hand over United with constant dismissals while defending a 163-run target. The early stages of the innings witnessed a rapid succession of wickets as Shadab Khan's side found themselves facing a challenging situation.
The first blow came in the first over with Shaheen Afridi removing Alex Hales (0). Agha Salman followed suit shortly adding only 4 runs on the bowling of Zaman Khan.
The batting side continued to struggle as Shadab (7) was clean bowled by a perfect yorker. The woes persisted with the quick dismissals of Colin Munro (15), Imad Wasim (7), and Jordan Cox (7), leaving the team in a precarious position with multiple key players back in the pavilion.
Azam Khan and Faheem Ashraf tried to shape comeback with a 35-run partnership. Despite dismissal of Azam (29), Naseem Shah played a cameo to keep two-time champions in contention.
Naseem scored a 16-ball 27 before being bowled by Shaheen Afridi, who completed his 100 PSL wickets.
Faheem put Qalandars on the back foot until Zaman dismissed Rumman Raees to end United innings.
The left-hander remained unbeaten on 31-ball 41 with the help of five boundaries.
Zaman finished with figures of 4/37 while Shaheen bagged 2/32.
Opting to bat first, the defending champions posted a competitive total on the back of Rassie van der Dussen's half-century.
The visitors faced a disappointing start to their innings, losing their openers Sahibzada Farhan (2) and Fakhar Zaman (10) within the batting powerplay, leaving them with just 16 runs on the board.
The Qalandars suffered another setback to their batting lineup when Shai Hope (6) departed in the sixth over, bringing their score down to 30/3 in the seventh over.
In response to the downturn, Qalandars' captain Shaheen Shah Afridi elevated himself in the batting order, entering the fray at No.5.
He launched a brief counterattack with a quickfire cameo, forging a brisk 46-run partnership with van der Dussen before succumbing to Shadab Khan, his Islamabad United counterpart, in the 11th over.
Afridi smashed four sixes on his way to a 14-ball 30.
Despite the setback, Rassie van der Dussen held his ground and formed brief partnerships with Sikandar Raza (4) and Ahsan Hafeez Bhatti (13) before eventually perishing in the 18th over.
Van der Dussen emerged as the top-scorer for the Qalandars with 64 off 44 deliveries, including four boundaries and an equal number of sixes.
Later in the innings, David Wiese contributed to bolstering Lahore Qalandars' total with an unbeaten 24-run cameo. His 11-ball innings featured three boundaries.
In the bowling department, Rumman Raees spearheaded the attack for Islamabad United in their crucial PSL 9 fixture, securing 2/19, while Naseem Shah, Hunain Shah, Imad Wasim, Faheem Ashraf, and Shadab each claimed a wicket.
