PSL WRAP - 2
Follow UsThe Karachi leg of the seventh edition of Pakistan Super League (PSL 2022) came to an end and home team Karachi Kings, finished it without a win from five matches. On the flip side, defending champions Multan Sultans went on without a loss in the Karachi leg.
After a three-day break, the PSL caravan will move to Lahore. The change in venue brought some luck for other teams, especially hosts Lahore Qalandars as they became the first team to break Multan's six-match winning streak. However, for Karachi, nothing changed. Their fate of making it to the play-offs look really bleak with only three matches left and zero points on board.
Fakhar Zaman continued his sublime run in the tournament with 469 runs at an average of 67 and strike rate of 165.1 with six 50+ scores in seven innings. Among the bowlers, Islamabad United skipper Shadab Khan, continued to pick wickets in regular intervals and is the highest wicket taker with 17 scalps.
Despite the loss, Multan are the leaders of the points table with 12 points in seven matches with Lahore trailing behind by 10 points in seven matches. As for the table footers, there isn’t a hesitancy as to whom it is. Here are some of the moments from the last eleven matches:
Zaman Khan steals the match by conceding three runs in the last over
The 12th match of the season, Lahore had scored 174 in the first innings in their full quota of 20 overs. In reply, thanks to a century partnership for the third wicket between Shadab and Colin Munro, Islamabad came close.
However, when both were dismissed, Islamabad required 35 off 21 balls. Azam Khan and Asif Ali hardly got going and were left with nine runs off the last over. Two hard hitters at the crease, it should have been an easy win for Islamabad. But, Zaman was too good for them. He conceded only three runs and bagged the priced wicket of Asif and won it for Lahore.
Oh! Haven’t we seen that expression of disappointment before?
From the 2019 ODI World Cup, when Asif Ali dropped an absolute sitter at third man off Wahab Riaz in the 37th over, there was one guy who went viral with his disappointment.
In the 13th match of PSL 2022 between Multan and Peshawar Zalmi, something similar happened, but this time it was a young female fan, but the bowler was same. Sohaib Maqsood in the 13th over, looked to whip one over mid-wicket, but mistimed it straight to deep mid-wicket fielder. Ben Cutting running in dropped and an easy catch. The girl in the crowd came up with a similar expression of disappointment.
Babar everywhere on the field
Nothing is going right for Karachi, they have lost on consecutive basis and against Islamabad it wasn’t different. Batting first, Islamabad scored a massive 177 in 20 overs for the loss of six wickets. Karachi lost by 42 runs while chasing.
However, skipper Babar Azam was involved in half of those dismissals made by Karachi. Two of those catches were simply stupendous and one straight forward catch at long on.
Roy makes his grand entrance with a ton
Because of his international commitments, Jason Roy joined the Quetta Gladiators late. However, he didn’t take too long to get along.
In his first match of PSL 2022, chasing a mammoth 205 against a bowling heavy Lahore team, Roy registered a century, the second of the season. He reached his half-century in just 20 balls and recorded the fastest 50 for a Quetta batsman in PSL. By registering a century of just 49 balls, the joint second fastest in PSL, Roy became the first ever Quetta batsman to register a ton in PSL.
First loss for Multan
After a six-match consecutive winning streak, Multan were finally defeated in Lahore and it was none other than the home team, Lahore Qalandars. After winning comfortably in the first match in the Lahore leg, Multan were up against the home team in the second. Chasing 183, Multan fell short by a huge margin of 52 runs.
The wrecker in chief for Lahore was Rashid Khan. In his third over, he removed the ever-consistent Mohammad Rizwan. Looking for a sweep, he had walked across too much and exposed his leg stump. In the follow-up delivery, he pinned Rilee Rossouw but missed out on a hat-trick.
When nothing went Wasim Jr's way
It was one of those odd days in which Islamabad pacer Mohammed Wasim Jr was belted all over the park for 61 runs in his four overs against Quetta in match 18.
After setting a target of 200, Wasim Jr was introduced in the third over and in his first over itself, he was carted for 23 runs, five fours, one single and two wides. Roy clubbed four out of those five boundaries and Ahsan Ali joined in with one.
Wasim couldn't catch a break as he dropped a sitter offered by Roy while fielding at deep mid-wicket much to the dismay of bowler Hasan Ali. In the next three balls, Roy carted three consecutive boundaries.
That wasn’t the end of it. With 27 runs required off the last two overs, Wasim Jr conceded 19 runs and brought the equation from 27 off 12 balls to nine runs off six balls. The 19th over consisted of two sixes and one four. Though he got a wicket, he had conceded too many runs.
The Quetta skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed finished off things in the 20th over and won their second consecutive game while chasing 200+.
Shaheen strikes early
Lahore skipper Shaheen Afridi is known for his early strikes. In this season, there haven’t been many instances of him providing an early breakthrough.
However, in their match against Quetta (Match 20), Shaheen breathed fire in the first over. In the second ball of the innings, he dismissed in-form Roy, and got rid of James Vince with the next ball.
Age is just a number for Hafeez
41-year old Mohammad Hafeez, who recently called time on his international career, showed us why age is just a number in match 20 against Quetta.
Hasan Khan, looking to swat the ball over mid-off, sliced a ball towards the vacant covers region against David Wiese. Fielding at mid-off, Hafeez ran towards his opposite side, that is towards his left and lunged forward to grab a sensational catch.
Fakhar Zaman’s sublime form
One of the reasons behind Lahore’s success in this season has been the sublime form of Fakhar. In seven innings, the left-handed opener has hit over 450+ runs at an average of 67. In only one innings, he couldn’t score above 50, and managed to hit a century against Karachi.
In the match against Quetta, he scored a 42-ball 53 that took his tally to 469. He now has three consecutive 50+ scores in the tournament.
