Kieron Pollard’s two sixes of the last two balls set Karachi Kings victory in the 18th fixture of Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2017, being played at Dubai Cricket Stadium.
Pollard played an outstanding innings of 45 runs off just 20 balls to keep the PSL dream alive for Kings’ fans.
Kings required 14 runs in the last over to avoid being knocked out from the league and Pollard was the man who did it with a stylish six on the last ball and then celebrated it with push-ups. He was declared the Man of the Match.
Batting first, Lahore Qalandars set a 156-run target for Karachi Kings as their innings started with a wicket in the very first over of the match. Opener Cameron Delport was caught out after Kumar Sangakhara took a flying catch off a ball by Mohammad Amir. Delport scored just three runs.
Fakhar Zaman came in at number three to join skipper Brendon McCullum on the crease. Together they made 36 runs before Zaman was dismissed by Sohail Khan in the sixth over. He scored 19 runs including 2 fours and 1 six.
McCullum was a bit calm with the bat today as he stayed at crease for ten overs, scoring 31 runs off 28 deliveries. He was dismissed by Usama Mir on the last ball of 10th over.
Mohammad Rizwan and Sohail Tanvir jointly contributed 55 runs for seventh wicket partnership. Both of them were not out at the end of 20 overs.
Earlier, Karachi Kings won the toss and invited Qalandars to bat first.
Teams:
Karachi Kings:
Babar Azam, Kumar Sangakkara (C), Mahela Jayawardene, Shoaib Malik, Kieron Pollard, Ravi Bopara, Imad Wasim, Sohail Khan, Mohammad Amir, Usama Mir, Usman Khan
Lahore Qalandars:
Cameron Delport, Brendon McCullum (c), Fakhar Zaman, Umar Akmal, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Grant Elliott, Sunil Narine, Aamer Yamin, Sohail Tanvir, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Irfan