With Cameron Delport's unbeaten century, Islamabad United trounced Lahore Qalandars in an important match of HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL), here on Saturday. Game lovers thronged Karachi's National Stadium to view the first match of the last eight matches of HBL PSL in Karachi. Waving flags, green shirts and chanting crowd reflected the mood of Karachiites. A number of kids and teenage were clad in shirts inscribed with their favourite players' names.
Lahore Qalandars won the toss. It elected to field first in the much-awaited game against Islamabad United. Lahore Qalandars lost the match by 49 runs as it could hardly score 189-9 in 20-overs against the record 238 runs scored by Islamabad United.
Cameron Delport crushed the bowling line scoring 117. In addition to superb batting, Islamabad's bowler Faheem Ashraf claimed six wickets in his spell foiling Lahore Qalandar's bid to surmount the mountain of huge 238 runs. A superb high-pressure catch by Philip Salt sent
Qalandars' skipper Fakhar Zaman back to pavilion at 38 after Anton Devcich fell at only 18 runs. Asif Ali was third target of Faheem. Then, Shadab Khan bowled Riki Wessels at 20 while Faheem's fourth wicket was of Agha Salman, who got caught by Shadab Khan at 3. Then came the fall of Sohail Akhtar (75) caught by Shadab Khan at long on. Shaheen Shah Afridi left the ground with only 1 avoiding gone duck.
In aggregate, 6 wickets for 19 runs in 4-overs lifted Faheem Ashraf high.
Rumman Raees got the wicket of David Weise, after he was caught at 12 runs by Muhammad Sami. Haris Rauf who scored 7 runs was run out by Mohammad Musa.
Cameron Delport shattered the Lahore Qalandars bowling line, securing 117 runs with 6 maximums and 13 boundaries off 49 balls. The middle order batsman Asif Ali scored 50 off 17 balls, another fastest half-century in the league. He remained unbeaten at 55, hitting six maximums and three boundaries. Chadwick Walton too played well with 48 runs off 30 balls.
The first-ball wicket of Ronchi by teenage Shaheen Shah Afridi had given the match a thrilling start but the end was different from the beginning. Philip Salt lost at 10 when Haris Sohail caught him out to add a wicket to the credit of leg spinner Sandeep Lamicahanne. David Wesie bowled Chadwick Walton in the 14th over. Walton departed after a better 48 off 30 deliveries closing the 118-runs 3rd wicket stand.