Twitter Reactions: Brilliant death bowling gives Lahore Qalandars close victory over Islamabad United

A dream spell from Zaman Khan towards the back end of the innings earned a win for the Lahore Qalandars against Islamabad United in the 12th game of PSL 2022. Earlier in the day, Islamabad United won the toss and opt to bowl at the National Stadium in Karachi.

Hasan Ali continued his poor run of form with the ball as the openers Fakhar Zaman (38) and Abdullah Shafique (44) exploded at the start and accumulated 73 runs in the powerplay. Skipper Shadab Khan came into the attack and immediately picked up the openers which resulted in an array of wickets quickly.

The Lahore Qalandars lost their way completely at 98/5 in 12 overs. However, Harry Brook and David Wiese came to the rescue with a decent partnership in the middle and some good hits down the order from Rashid Khan and Shaheen Afridi ensured the Lahore posted 174/9. Waqas Mahmood and Shadab, both picked up four wickets each and Mabasir Khan bowled out an economical spell as well.

Zaman Khan defends 12 in the last over

In reply, Islamabad United did not have the best of starts, losing Paul Stirling(14) and Alex Hales(11) early with just 37 runs on board in the fifth over. However, in form batters, Colin Munro and Shadab formed an excellent century run partnership to ensure the chase was on the right track. Munro in particular hit a valiant 60 in 45 balls with five fours and three sixes in his innings. Shadab continued his excellent run of form with the bat scoring 52 in just 32 balls and hitting two fours and four sixes in his innings.

However, Islamabad lost the set batters at the wrong time of the innings, with still needing 35 runs from 21 balls. Despite the momentum favouring the batting side, the Lahore bowlers came back strong and stemmed the run flow significantly in the last few overs. Big hitters Asif Ali and Azam Khan failed to find the gaps and the dot balls kept popping up as well. Azam’s 10 off 12 balls had created a big impact on the batting side and let the Lahore bowlers back into the game.

Zaman Khan bowled a splendid final over and ensured that the Lahore Qalandars win the game by eight runs in the end. With the win, Lahore have moved into the second position in the points table with three wins in four games while Islamabad United are currently lying at the third position.

Here’s how the Twitterati reacted to the win: