Hope and Pollard fail to fire in last-ball thriller

KARACHI – Current West Indies One-day International captain Shai Hope and former West Indies white-ball captain Kieron Pollard failed with the bat in the Pakistan Super League on Saturday.

But former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik grabbed the headlines when he smashed a boundary off the last ball to formalise a thrilling three-wicket win for Karachi Kings against two-time champions Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League on Saturday.

The Kings required three of the final delivery, and Malik drilled a low full toss from pacer Zaman Khan through point to formalise the result in a tense finish.

Hope made only nine, but half-centuries from Pakistan international duo of Abdullah Shafique and Fakhar Zaman enabled the Qalandars to reach 177 for five from their allocation of 20 overs after they were put into bat in their penultimate match of the tournament at the National Cricket Stadium.

Shafique hit five fours and three sixes in the top score of 55 off 39 balls, and Fakhar cracked five fours and two sixes in 54 from 35 balls, and they shared 70 for the second wicket, but the rest of the batting failed to ignite.

Pollard scored only three before he was caught behind by Hope off Tayyab Abbas in the 13th over, but several others got starts without carrying on, and the Kings were able to complete their chase slowly and surely.

England international James Vince led the way for the Kings with 42, New Zealander Tim Seifert supported with 36, Irfan Khan scored 35, Malik was not out on 27, and Kings captain Shan Masoon made 24.

The result meant that the Kings kept alive their hopes of a place in the play-offs with eight points from nine matches; the Qalandars have already been eliminated, beating only Quetta Gladiators and losing seven matches in the absence of injured Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan.

Vince carried the Kings to 59 without loss at the close of the Power Play in the company of fellow opener Seifert before he was caught behind off Tayyab in the seventh over.

Masood came to the crease, and he carried them to the brink of 100 before he, Pollard, and Seifert fell for 13 in the span of 18 balls.

Kings were 113 for four, but the uncapped Irfan joined Malik and revived the chase with a stand of 52 for the fifth wicket before the Qalandars captain and Pakistan champion left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi bowled him for a brisk 35 in the penultimate over.

Kings required 13 from the final nine balls of the match, and Malik endured Anwar Ali being caught and bowled by Zaman Khan for one, and Arafat Minhas being run out for the same score to hit the winning runs.

Earlier, Qalandars lost opener Tahir Baig caught at deep square leg off Ali for four, but Shafique and Fakhar put them back on track with their stand before the rest of the batting spectacular fell away before Caribbean Premier League regulars, Sikandar Raza of Zimbabwe, and David Wiese of South Africa came to their rescue.

Wiese was not out on 24, and Raza was not out on 22, and they put on 46 unbroken for the sixth wicket inside the final four overs to take the Qalandars to a respectable total.

CMC