Rawalpindiz hurtled to their seventh defeat in a row, @L0$ to Lahore Qalandars, who snapped their three-match winless streak in the PSL on Saturday (April 18).
Qalandars posted 210/4 in Karachi, headlined by openers Fakhar Zaman and Mohammad Farooq, with their 121-run stand setting the base for a winning total. This was only Farooq's second PSL game.
The Pindiz started with spin from both ends but it backfired: Asif Afridi and Cole McConchie gave away 66 runs from six overs combined.
In his first over though, McConchie created a chance to have Farooq stumped, but the ball went through keeper Sam Billings. It would go on to be the first of multiple errors on the field by them.
Mohammad Amir was brought in to change things up in the Powerplay, with Farooq greeting him with a glorious inside-out six over extra cover. His short-arm jabs continued to make an appearance: they raced to 69/0 after six, 46 of which were off Farooq's bat.
Their running between the wickets was another highlight of the stand, despite a 14-year gap between the two openers.
Qalandars had another chance to break the stand in the ninth over, but Billings dropped an absolute sitter. The frustration was evident as he mouthed off to the bowler after four leg-byes came off a straying ball soon after.
Amir eventually broke their stand with a slower ball, with Farooq holing out one of his jabs straight to deep mid-wicket. Zaman continued the charge, assisted by Abdullah Shafique as the team crossed 150.
Pindiz's poor fielding betrayed the struggles of the bottom-ranked team, with Zaman enjoying a reprieve in the 17th over. Next over, PSL debutant Razaullah gave them a wway in, picking up Shafique and Sikandar Raza off back-to-back balls. An over later, Fakhar's charge ended, caught off Amir, who was the pick of the bowlers with his subtle change of pace and overall control of lengths. But Asif Ali finished the innings on strong note with two sixes off the last two balls, taking Qalandars to their first 200+ total this season.
The chase didn't really start well for Pindiz. Skipper Shaheen Afridi struck off his second over to remove Shahzaib Khan and Mohammad Rizwan, the latter with an inswinging peach that was confirmed lbw after a review.
Yasir Khan counter-attacked in the Powerplay, keeping them in the hunt as they flew past 60 runs at the six-over mark. While Yasir completed his fifty in 24 balls, Daryl Mitchell struggled to get going, ambling to 11 off 14 before Haris Rauf picked him up. Billings was greeted with a bouncer first up, so well-directed that the protective gear behind the helmet came off. When Yasir fell two balls later, leaving Pindiz on 89/4, the downward slide had begun.
From there on, the equation seemingly went out of reach: at the end of the 13th over, they still needed 100 runs, with Raza and Usama Mir sending back Billings and Dian Forrester in successive overs. Billings's scalp was the 500th of Raza's T20 career, while Mir foxed Forrester with a ripping googly that rattled his off stump.
Saad Masood, at seven, blasted nine fours and a six, but his fifty was too little, too late for the Rawalpindiz. They are now the second side in PSL history, after Karachi Kings (in 2022), to lose their first seven games of a season. They are officially out of the tournament, while Qalandars are now sixth with six points.
@B0$Lahore Qalandars (Fakhar Zaman 84, Mohammad Farooq 63, Mohammad Amir 2-25, Razaullah 2-45) beat Rawalpindiz (Yasir Khan 58, Saad Masood 54, Haris Rauf 3-43, Shaheen Afridi 2-19) by 32 runs.
