kings of karachi 196 by 7 (Akhlaq 51, Imad 45, T Tahir 40, Talat 2-24) won Lahore Qalandars (Talat 25, Javed 2-8) for 86 runs
Having qualified for the play-offs, Lahore Qalandars rested their captain Shaheen Shah Afridi and lost their last league game to Karachi Kings, but that won’t worry them as much as the fact that Rashid Khan had to retire injured after of being hit. the helmet. The Qalandars will take on the highly successful Multan Sultans in the Qualifier on Wednesday and they would really rather go into that game with their ace in fighting form.
Far from those concerns, however, the Kings were able to celebrate only their third win of the tournament, which moved them from the bottom of the point standings. Muhammad Akhlaq, after two poor first seasons in 2021 and 2022, reached his first PSL half-century. A 51-for-36 innings he set up the Kings for the final flourish provided by captain Imad Wasim (43-for-31) and Ben Cutting (33-for-14). They were able to put up a total of 196 from 7 after choosing to bat at Lahore, with Tayyab Tahir also contributing a spirited 40 from 23 balls at No. 3.
The Qalandars’ pursuit went nowhere as they lost their top order within the power play and continued to collapse. They were 79 of 7 when Rashid had to retire injured at the end of the 15 over. He had been hit in the 14th, trying to pull off a James Fuller keeper, but he continued to bat after receiving medical attention. Things looked good, especially when Rashid was able to hit the first ball after taking the hit, for an emphatic cap on square leg. But he couldn’t go on much longer.
The Kings bowlers enjoyed just as good a time as their batsmen with Imad, Akif Javed, Mohammad Umar and Imran Tahir all picking up two wickets each.
