Qalandars edge Zalmi to reach third spot

LAHORE: Lahore Qalandars continued their winning streak at the Gaddafi Stadium on Tuesday night when they defeated Peshawar Zalmi by five wickets with one ball to spare.

They needed 24 off the last two overs and collected 16 from the 19th over, bowled by Rahat Ali, with David Weise hitting a six and Samit Patel a four. That brought the equation down to eight from the last six balls. Carlos Braithwaite gave only three off the first four balls — which included a leg-bye and a bye — but was hit for a huge six by Weise on the fifth ball.

Fakhar Zaman had given Lahore a fine start, first scoring 50 runs with skipper Sohail Akhtar (21 off 19 balls), who had promoted himself to the opening position. After Sohail departed, Fakhar and Chris Lynn added 96 runs for the second wicket.

Fakhar got out after scoring 63 off 46 balls, hitting four fours and three sixes, while Lynn amassed 59 off just 32 balls, striking six fours and three sixes.

Earlier, Shoaib Malik and Haider Ali scored fluent half centuries to enable Peshawar to post 187 for seven after they had lost three wickets for 24. Malik scored 62 off 43 balls, with seven fours and two sixes, while young Haider smashed four fours and as many sixes in his 43-ball 69.

Shaheen Shah Afridi got three for 28 in his four overs. Lahore Qalandars are now third on the points table, having won four of their eight matches. Peshawar remain second, with nine points from nine matches.

Brief scores: Peshawar Zalmi 187/7 (Haider Ali 69, Shoaib Malik 62, Shaheen Afridi 3/28, Samit Patel 2/37). Lahore Qalandars 189/5 in 19.5 overs (Fakhar Zaman 63, Chris Lynn 59, Carlos Braithwaite 3/28). Qalandars won by 5 wickets (with 1 ball remaining).