Lahore Qalandars' bowling side near decimated their Karachi competition to secure an assertive victory by a 22-run margin in the 5th match of the 2019 Pakistan Super League series at the Dubai Cricket Stadium.
Lahore Qalandars innings
After the Kings won the toss and opted to field first, the Qalandars' opening pairing of Fakhar Zaman and Sohail Akhtar provided their side a solid start.
By the time Akhtar (39 off 25 balls) departed in the 8th over, Lahore had 64 runs on the board. However, after Zaman's laboured 28-ball 26-run innings came to an end in the 11th over, Lahore lost their way.
AB de Villiers (3 off 5) disappointed again as he was holed out in deep square leg. The Qalandars middle order just could not get going, eventually finishing with a total of 138-6.
Karachi Kings innings
The Qalandars had set a 139-run target for the Kings to chase which became near impossible to achieve with the quick fall of wickets.
The 18th and 19th alone over saw the Kings losing 3 and then 4 wickets respectively.
The thrilling encounter also experienced some interruption in the 15th over as rain fell and play was paused for a few minutes.
Haris Rauf was the lead wicket taker and also crowned man of the match for his 4-wicket haul with an economy of 23 runs.
Rahat Ali took three, Shaheen Shah Afridi took two and Viljoen took one wicket.
In the end, despite a 34-run knock by Mohammad Rizwan and 28 runs contributed by Babar Azam, the Kings only managed 116 runs before the side was wiped out by the Qalandars.
Line-ups
Karachi Kings XI: Livingstone, Babar Azam, Ingram, Imad Wasim, Sikandar Raza, Bopara, Rizwan, Sohail Khan, Mohammad Amir, Usman Shinwari, Umer Khan
Lahore Qalandars XI: Fakhar Zaman, Sohail Akhtar, de Villiers, Devcich, Brendan Taylor, Hafeez, Hardus Viljoen, Yasir Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Rahat Ali
