Lamichhane stars as Lahore thrash Quetta in HBL PSL

DUBAI: Sandeep Lamichhane recorded career-best T20 bowling figures to enable Lahore Qalandars to demolish Quetta Gladiators by eight wickets in their HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) match at Dubai International Stadium on Wednesday.

Nepal’s Lamichhane grabbed 4-10 in his four overs to help Lahore bowl out Quetta for only 106 in 19.1 overs. They cruised to the target in 16.3 overs with AB de Villers scoring an undefeated 38-ball 47, while Haris Sohail notched 42-ball 33.

The defeat was Quetta’s second in a row after winning four straight games.

Quetta had beaten Lahore in the first phase in Sharjah with skipper Sarfraz Ahmed hitting a last ball six but this time Quetta were not up to the mark as Lamichhane ran them over with some brilliant bowling.

Lahore too were off to a poor start when hard-hitting opener Fakhar Zaman, who was also leading the side in the match, fell for just two in the first over. He was caught by Ahsan Ali off the bowling of Mohammad Hasnain.

Fellow opener Gauhar Ali scored 21 before he was clean bowled by Harry Gurney.

Haris, playing his first game since returning from the tour of South Africa in December, then added 74 runs for the unbeaten third wicket partnership with de Villiers. Haris hit three boundaries, while de Villiers cracked seven fours.

After the victory, Lamichhane said he was pleased with his performance.

“I am very happy,” said Lamichanne. “Fakhar (captain) asked me to bowl in the power-play and I am happy that I was able to respond well.”

Fakhar said: “Lamichhane bowled well and he is in form so the win is pleasing.”

Quetta captain Sarfraz admitted his side needed a bigger first innings total.

“We got off to a good start but then Lamichhane bowled well and got wickets so we did not put a good total on board,” Sarfraz said.

Quetta’s batting was in disarray against some quality spin of Lamichhane. Opener Ahsan scored 25-ball 33 with two sixes and three boundaries, while Sarfraz made 27-ball 29 with just a boundary.

Lamichhane, whose previous best of 3-11 came earlier this month for Melbourne Stars against Sydney Strikers in the Big Bash League, broke the 33-run opening stand by trapping in-form Shane Watson lbw for seven.

He struck a double blow in his second over with wickets of Rilee Rossouw (7) and Umar Akmal (1) as Quetta were left reeling at 3-45.It became 4-47 when Danish Aziz tried a reverse sweep off Lamichhane and was caught in the slip.

Ahsan was run out in the ninth over and it was left to Sarfraz to fight. He added 33 for the sixth wicket with Mohammad Nawaz (12). But it was not enough as Yasir Shah (1-32) had Sarfraz, while Haris Rauf grabbed the wickets of Nawaz and Fawad Ahmed to finish with figures of 2-23.

Lahore Qalandars won toss

Quetta Gladiators

S R Watson lbw b Lamichhane 7

Ahsan Ali run out 33

R R Rossouw c Wiese b Lamichhane 8

Umar Akmal b Lamichhane 1

Danish Aziz c Haris b Lamichhane 1

*†Sarfraz Ahmed c Lamichhane b Yasir 29

Mohammad Nawaz c de Villiers b Haris 12

Sohail Tanvir b Shaheen 7

Fawad Ahmed b Haris 0

Mohammad Hasnain run out 0

H F Gurney not out 0

Extras (w 8) 8

Total (all out, 19.1 overs) 106

Fall: 1-33, 2-43, 3-45, 4-47, 5-53, 6-90, 7-98, 8-101, 9-105, 10-106

Bowling: Yasir 4-0-32-1; Shaheen 3.1-0-16-1; Lamichhane 4-0-10-4; Wiese 2-0-18-0; Fakhar 2-0-7-0; Haris 4-0-23-2

Lahore Qalandars

*Fakhar Zaman c Ahsan Ali b Mohammad Hasnain 2

†Gauhar Ali b Gurney 21

Haris Sohail not out 33

A B de Villiers not out 47

Extras (lb 2, w 2) 4

Total (2 wickets, 16.3 overs) 107

Did not bat: C J Anderson, D Wiese, Sohail Akhtar, S Lamichhane, Yasir Shah, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi

Fall: 1-4, 2-33

Bowling: Sohail 3-0-15-0; Hasnain 4-0-29-1; Gurney 2-0-13-1; Fawad 4-0-23-0; Nawaz 2-0-13-0; Rossouw 1-0-6-0; Danish 0.3-0-6-0

Result: Lahore Qalandars won by 8 wickets

Man of the Match: S Lamichhane (LQ)

Umpires: Ranmore Martinesz (Sri Lanka) and Shozab Raza (Pakistan). TV Umpire: Asif Yaqoob (Pakistan)