Lahore Qalandars reach PSL 2020 final with win over Multan Sultans

Lahore Qalandars reach PSL 2020 final with win over Multan Sultans

By Zohaib Ahmed Majeed
November 15, 2020

Lahore Qalandars have defeated Multan Sultans by 25 runs at National Stadium in Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2020 Eliminator 2. The victory means the Qalandars, who were bottom of the table halfway through the round robin stage, have somehow recovered to play the winner-takes-all final opposite Karachi Kings.

The Qalandars owed it all, or most, to David Wiese, without whose blistering 21-ball 48 and three-for, the victory would not have been possible.

The 35-year-old South African gave Lahore a six-laden cameo when they were set for a mediocre-run total. The extra 20 runs put Lahore in a strong position.

Later, when Multan were off to a great start and seemed on course to tracking down the target, he picked up three key wickets to break the back of Multan's batting line-up.

The result is pretty much what everyone wanted as it sets up a blockbuster Karachi versus Lahore final on Tuesday.


End of live blog

157 all-out: Lahore win!

157-9 after 19 overs: Shaheen picks up another the very next ball. Dunk takes another blinder. Shaheen on a hat-trick. Doesn't get it.

155-8 after 18.3 overs: Khushdil caught and this time it's a legal ball. Match is surely over now.

150-7 after 18 overs: And just like that, it's not necessarily over. Fourteen off Haris' over keeps Multan's hopes alive. 

136-7 after 17 overs: Khushdil gets caught off a top edge but Dilber had overstepped. He cracks a six later in the over but just one doesn't help.

48 needed off 18.

124-7 after 16 overs: David Wiese has almost given Lahore the visa for PSL final. Bowls out Tanvir. 

120-6 after 15 overs: 63 needed off final 5 overs. It's not impossible but extremely difficult. 

Sohail Tanvir 2 (3) Khushdil Shah 7 (6)

116-6 after 14 overs: Afridi out first ball as Haris strikes. Fast and furious yorker castles Afridi. Haris immediately apologises to the legend. 

Sohail Tanvir is next man in. The game rests on Khushdil Shah's shoulders. 67 needed from 6 overs.

116-5 after 13.4 overs: Wiese in action again as he takes a difficult catch on the boundary. Rossouw gone! Lahore on top.

110-4 after 13 overs: Another big wicket for Wiese. Ravi Bopara caught by Dunk off of a top edge. Multan do still have enough batting and enough power hitters to get the job done but Lahore have the slight edge.

Rilee Rossouw 17 (16) Khushdil Shah 0 (0)

102-3 after 12 overs: Another quiet over produces a wicket. Masood tries to ramp Dilber but it only goes as far as keeper Dunk, who takes a brilliant diving catch.

96-2 after 11 overs: Tight over by Hafeez. He needed it after being taken for so many runs earlier.

91-2 after 10 overs: Rilee Rossouw 4 (6) Shan Masood 22 (16)

85-2 after 9 overs: Wiese emerges Lahore's hero again; gets rid of dangerman Lyth (50 off 29).

Before PSL restart, Wiese told Geo Super that loaded Lahore Qalandars may not even need him

Without him, where would Lahore have been tonight? On their way back to Lahore!

75-1 after 8 overs: Lyth completes his half century off just 28 balls. His knock is why Multan have a slight upperhand.

Shan Masood 12 (11) Adam Lyth 50 (28)

68-1 after 7 overs: The usually expensive Haris is proving to be stingy tonight. Just 5 runs off the over.

63-1 after 6 overs: Fakhar drops Lyth! Difficult catch at midwicket. Fakhar dives forward full length but can't hold on. 

Lyth makes Lahore pay later in the over with a six. 

51-1 after 5 overs: Zeeshan (12 off 9) chases a wide, bouncy delivery and nicks it back to the keeper. Haris is ecstatic but Zeeshan's not the prized wicket. The dangerman Lyth is still out there.

Shaheen is off the field. Not good news for Lahore even if he was proving to be expensive.

Captain Shan Masood is next man in.

47-0 after 4 overs: Another decent over for Multan, whose run chase is going according to plan.

Adam Lyth 34 (17) Zeeshan Ashraf 12 (7)

37-0 after 3 overs: Shaheen is hit for a four then appears to have picked up an abdominal injury and is getting medical treatment. Fortunately for Lahore, he guts it out (no pun intended) and is ready to resume.

Lyth hits Afridi for another six. He has conceded 26 in just two overs. How often does that happen?

23-0 after 2 overs: It looks like Multan batters are targeting two boundaries an over. They find them off of Hafeez's bowling too.

Zeeshan Ashraf 11 (6) Adam Lyth 12 (6)

12-0 after 1 over: Expensive first over by Afridi, who gets hit by two boundaries.

0-0 after 0 overs: Adam Lyth and Zeeshan Ashraf to face Shaheen Afridi.

Story at the break: It was a topsy-turvy innings that saw Lahore start strong, then pegged back then come back strong. 

Fakhar and Tamim gave Lahore a flying start before the latter and Hafeez's partnership slowed the innings down, which was largely down to some incredible tight bowling by Multan's quadragenarian leg-spin duo of Afridi and Tahir. 

Lahore lost their way and at one point it seemed their best bet would be to get to 160. But then David Wiese and Samit Patel formed a clutch 59-run partnership for the 6th wicket. Wiese, in particular was in otherworldly form as his late hitting helped Lahore bleed Multan for 38 runs in final two overs.

182-6 after 20 overs: David Wiese smashes two sixes off the final two balls. He finishes with an incredible 21-ball 48 while Lahore finish with a total that is at least 20 runs more than their expectations just a few overs ago.

170-6 after 19.4 overs: Patel is gone but the damage is done. He contributed 26 off 16.

164-5 after 19 overs: Massive over for the Qalandars as Wiese finds four boundaries. Junaid Khan looked utterly clueless.

David Wiese 35 (18) Samit Patel 21 (13)

144-5 after 18 overs: Patel provided some much-needed boundaries to relieve some pressure.

Samit Patel 21 (13) David Wiese 15 (12)

133-5 after 17 overs: Two boundaries and 10 runs off the over but that's not enough. Lahore need more to make a match out of it, especially when their bowlers will have to tackle the dew factor in second innings.

Samit Patel 12 (9) David Wiese 13 (10)

123-5 after 16 overs: Tahir finishes his spell. He does not get a wicket but gave away just 30 runs in his four.

115-5 after 15 overs: Dunk's done! Afridi cleans him up as Lahore dealt a massive blow - one they might not recover from. Not much batting left now. 

David Wiese is in.

A vintage spell by Afridi, meanwhile. He picks up two wickets and gives away just 18 in his four overs.

110-4 after 14 overs: Fakhar (46 off 36) hits two fours to start the over and just when it seemed that this could be the night he redeems himself, he meets his kryptonite. 

Fakhar gets greedy and goes for a third straight four but only finds the short third-man fielder. Lyth - the spinner - with the wicket. 

Dunk and Patel, the two men who famously kept Lahore's season alive in round robin stage with a Batman-Robin act, are at the crease.

97-3 after 13 overs: Hafeez, too, wasn't looking in control and his stay at the crease is cut short by Afridi, who has the Professor caught at long off. Just 19 off 21 tonight for last night's hero.

But fear not. Ben Dunk is in.

94-2 after 12 overs: 

82-2 after 11 overs: Fakhar's laborious batting forces Hafeez to play a rash shot, which produces a top edge and hovers above point. Bopara runs backwards but cannot get to it. Technically a dropped catch but it was too difficult that you can blame the fielder. Nonetheless, Afridi does not say anything, only makes the face. 

Another tight over ramps up pressure on the batters to accelerate. Expect some risky shots in the next over.

Mohammad Hafeez 14 (17) Fakhar Zaman 29 (26)

78-2 after 10 overs: Mohammad Hafeez 12 (13) Fakhar Zaman 27 (24)

With two spinners on, Fakhar seems a fish out of water..

75-2 after 9 overs: Shahid Afridi's first over is out of the way.

69 after 8 overs: And as expected, Fakhar, who is probably the worst player of spin in Pakistan or the entire world, misses a Tahir delivery and it hits him on his back leg. The umpire doesn't move so a review is taken and although it was heading for the stumps, it pitched outside Fakhar's leg stump, which saves him.

Fakhar finds a boundary later in the over but it was smacked with power straight to Tahir who got out of the way. Had he stuck a hand, he might have caught it - or broken his hand.

Fakhar Zaman 23 (20) Mohammad Hafeez 7 (5)

62-2 after 7 overs: Hafeez pulls for his first boundary of the night.

Mohammad Hafeez 6 (4) Fakhar Zaman 17 (15)

The tricky Imran Tahir will bowl the next over. Fakhar better watch out.

54-2 after 6 overs: Two wickets have now fallen in back-to-back overs. Akhtar (5) flicks off his pads and makes a decent connection but gets caught at deep square leg. Ilyas with the wicket.

Last night's hero, Mohammad Hafeez, is in. 

Despite the fall of two quick wickets, the run rate is still pretty healthy at 9.

46-1 after 5 overs: Tamim (30 off 20) is out caught. Weird dismissal, too, as Tamim goes for a one-legged half-pull. The ball brushes his bat, then hits him and goes up in the air. Khushdil grabs the catch as Junaid gets the breakthrough.

Lahore captain Sohail Akhtar is up next.

42-0 after 4 overs: Tamim's stroke play rubs off on Fakhar, who finds a six and a four as Lahore are officially off to a flying start. They're scoring in excess of 10 an over. 

Junaid Khan gets the next over.

27-0 after 3 overs: Mohammad Ilyas serves a couple outside off stump sitters and Tamim cashes in. Twin boundaries off the over.

Tamim Iqbal 22 (14) Fakhar Zaman 2 (5)

18-0 after 2 overs: Tamim with a stylish cover driven boundary. Tanvir is getting some movement off the deck and is disappointed not to make that count in his opening over.

Fakhar Zaman 2 (5) Tamim Iqbal 13 (8)

9-0 after 1 over: Fakhar gives more proof of his bad patch as he gets a free hit and fails to do anything with it. Zero runs off it. Nine off the over though.

Sohail Tanvir to bowl the second.

0-0 after 0 overs: Tamim Iqbal and horribly out-of-form Fakhar Zaman to open the innings for Lahore. Adam Lyth to bowl the first over.

7:35pm: Playing elevens:

Multan have replaced Mohammad Irfan with Junaid Khan.

Lahore: Fakhar Zaman, Tamim Iqbal, Sohail Akhtar (c), Mohammad Hafeez, Ben Dunk (wk), Samit Patel, David Wiese, Muhammad Faizan, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Dilbar Hussain

Multan: Zeeshan Ashraf (wk), Adam Lyth, Shan Masood (c), Rilee Rossouw, Ravi Bopara, Khushdil Shah, Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Ilyas, Imran Tahir, Junaid Khan

7:31pm: Sultans captain Shan Masood has won the toss and decided to field first. 

7:08pm: We're roughly 20 minutes away from the toss. 

Preview: Multan were edged out by Karachi Kings in their Qualifier yesterday. Since they were the round robin winners, they get a second shot at qualifying for Tuesday's final.

Lahore, on the other hand, knocked out Peshawar Zalmi last night courtesy Mohammad Hafeez's unbeaten knock. A win tonight will see them join Karachi in a blockbuster final.

Head to head: Lahore and Multan split the six games played between each other, Both have won three matches against each other, which indicates that these are usually very evenly matched sides.

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