Mohammad Hafeez (69 and 2-23) and Shaheen Shah Afridi (3-19) were the stars as Lahore Qalandars finally became PSL champions.
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The Lahore Qalandars beat the Multan Sultans by 42 runs in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2022 final held at Lahore on Sunday (February 27).
Mohammad Hafeez (69 and 2-23) and Shaheen Shah Afridi (3-19) were the stars as the Qalandars finally became PSL champions.
Batting first, the Qalandars scored a respectable total of 180-5 despite at one point being 79-4 and on the verge of a collapse.
Openers Fakhar Zaman (3) and Abdullah Shafique (14) barely troubled the scorecards; they were the first and third wicket, respectively, to fall for the Qalandars.
Zeeshan Ashraf only scored 7 shortly before he too departed after Zaman. And Kamran Ghulam never really got going, scoring just 15 off 20 balls.
? The Qalandars Dream comes true after 7 years! ? #HBLPSL7 l #LevelHai l #MSvLQ I #HBLPSLFinal pic.twitter.com/TVdLsf688T
— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) February 27, 2022
But it was the lower order that came to the side’s rescue. Hafeez’s 69 consisted of 9 fours and 1 six and helped revive the innings.
After that, Harry Brook (41* off 22 balls) and David Wiese (28* off 8) ensured the team ended their innings on a high. Incidentally, Wiese scored 28 off 8 balls in the Eliminator too.
Asif Afridi was the pick of the Sultans’ bowlers with figures of 3-19. That being said, the team still had enough reasons to be confident that they could chase down this score.
The Sultans needed a fast start and they got that from their openers Shan Masood and Mohammad Rizwan. However, the Qalandars came back strong as Hafeez cleaned up Rizwan’s stumps.
Masood got run out by Zaman and the tide then turned. Hafeez struck again two overs later when he got rid of Aamer Azmat; Asif Afridi too departed soon, with Zaman Khan rifling one into his stumps.
Now 50-4, the Sultans needed someone to piece together an innings. Rilee Rossouw departed soon thereafter but Tim David tried to launch a counterattack.
However, he became Shaheen Shah Afridi’s first victim when he played one straight to Zaman. Afridi struck again when he removed David Willey before Haris Rauf dismissed Khushdil Shah.
It was a matter of when rather than if at this point, as the Sultans were teetering at 122-8. Afridi removed Rumman Raees before Wiese got rid of Imran Tahir to wrap up the game.
It was a fitting end to the final and a fairytale story for the perennial underachievers, who at long last won the big one.
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