PSL 2020: Match 3, Lahore Qalandars vs Multan Sultans – Losing streak of Lahore Qalandars, Shahid Afridi's finishing and more stats

Lahore Qalandars’ maiden PSL match at their home didn’t go their way as they lost to Multan Sultans by 5 wickets on Friday night. Qalandars raced to 59 in 5.1 overs as Chris Lynn struck three fours and two sixes in his quick-fire 39. Lynn’s dismissal triggered a collapse from which the Lahore team never recovered.

Skipper Sohail Akhtar scored an unbeaten 34 to take the hosts to 138/8. The Multan Sultans needed 16.1 overs for the loss of five wickets to chase down the target. Shan Masood (38) and Rilee Rossouw (32) were the top contributors to the visiting team.

All the statistical highlights from Multan Sultans’ 5-wicket victory over Lahore Qalandars:

Qalandars’ losing streak:

5 – This was Lahore Qalandars’ 5th consecutive defeat as they lost each of their last four matches in 2019. This is their joint-longest losing streak in the PSL. Qalandars lost five in a row between 2017 and 2018. During the 2017-2018 period, Lahore Qalandars spent 8 consecutive matches without a win which includes a Tied match where they lost in the Super Over.

Karachi Kings lost seven consecutive matches across 2016 and 2017 editions of the PSL while Multan Sultans also lost five in a row during the 2018 edition.

Qalandars’ poor record in Pakistan:

0-3 – Lahore Qalandars lost all the three PSL matches they played in Pakistan thus far. They lost to Islamabad United by 49 runs and also against Multan Sultans by 7 wickets during the last season’s last league phase in Karachi.

The two wins against the Lahore Qalandars while chasing are the only matches that the Multan Sultans played in the PSL on the Pakistan soil.

Tahir on top of Sultans:

15 – Number of wickets Imran Tahir has picked up in the 11 PSL games for the Multan. These are the joint-most number PSL wickets by any player for Multan. Junaid Khan took 15 wickets in 15 matches for the Multan team while Mohammad Irfan also has 15 wickets across 20 games. Irfan went wicketless in Friday’s match.

Chasing team wins in Lahore:

3-1 – The game between Qalandars and Sultans was the 4th PSL match hosted by the Gaddafi Stadium. The previous three matches were won by the team batting first. Peshawar Zalmi was the winning team in all those three occasions.

Afridi finishes off with a boundary:

4 – Shahid Afridi finished off the game with a boundary off Dilbar Hussain. This was the 4th time Afridi scored the winning runs in a PSL match. He scored a boundary Quetta Gladiators’ Mahmudullah in 2017 while playing for Peshawar Zalmi.

In the 2019 edition for Multan Sultans, he finished off a chase against Islamabad United with back to back sixes and took a single to finish off the chase against Lahore Qalandars.