In Pakistan Super League PSL 7 Final, Lahore Qalandars became champions for the first time by defeating event favorite and defending champion Multan Sultans.
In the final played at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore, Lahore Qalandars defeated Multan Sultans by 42 runs and crowned the PSL champions.
The Lahore Qalandars, who have won hearts every time in PSL, also won the trophy this time under the leadership of Shaheen Shah Afridi.
In pursuit of Lahore Qalandars’ 181-run target, Multan Sultans, who won 10 out of 11 matches in PSL, managed to score only 138 runs.
Mohammad Hafeez, who played a responsible 69-run innings for Lahore Qalandars, also bowled well and strengthened the Qalandars’ grip on the match by taking important wickets of Mohammad Rizwan and Amir Azmat.
Khushdal Shah (32), Tim David (27), Shaun Masood (19), Reilly Russo (15), Mohammad Rizwan (14), and Imran Tahir (10) returned to the pavilion for the Sultans in PSL 7 Final.
Shaheen Shah Afridi sent 3 players to the pavilion in the final, thus becoming the bowler to take the most 20 wickets in the event.
Zaman Khan and Mohammad Hafeez took 2 wickets each for Lahore Qalandars while David Wesa and Haris Rauf took 1 wicket each. Mohammad Hafeez was declared the best player of the match for his excellent all-rounder performance.
Earlier, the Lahore Qalandars looked under pressure from the start of the final match of the event, but they scored 180 for 5 in the allotted 20 overs thanks to Muhammad Hafeez’s half-century, Harry Brook, and David Wesa’s lightning-fast innings.
Top scorer Fakhr Zaman with 588 runs in 13 matches of PSL 7 fell victim to Asif Afridi by scoring only 3 runs on a total of 12.
The second wicket of Lahore Qalandars fell on the score of 23. Zeeshan Ashraf was defeated by David Valley on an individual score of 7 with the help of Muhammad Rizwan.
Multan Sultans were given the third victory by Asif Afridi in the form of Abdullah Shafiq, who was stumped for 14 runs.
Kamran Ghulam and Mohammad Hafeez shared a 54-run stand for the fourth wicket.
His wicket went to Asif Afridi, so the spinner of Multan Sultans took 3 wickets for 19 runs in 4 overs.
Muhammad Hafeez shared a 58-run stand with Harry Brook for the fifth wicket and also completed his half-century.
In a difficult time for Lahore, Mohammad Hafeez batted brilliantly and faced 46 balls, hitting 9 fours and 1 six, this was his first half-century in the PSL 7.
Harry Brook and David Wesa put on an unbeaten 43 off the last 16 balls for the sixth wicket, Brock scored 41 off 22 balls and Wesa scored 28 off 8 balls.
For Multan Sultans, Asif Afridi took 3 wickets, David Valley and Shahnawaz Dahani took 1.1 wickets each.
Lahore Qalandars captain Shaheen Shah Afridi and Multan Sultans captain Muhammad Rizwan took the field for the final being played at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore.
Multan Sultans have played 11 matches in PSL 7 under the leadership of Mohammad Rizwan and have won 10 and lost one match.
Cricket experts have expected the final of the event to be full and thrilling between the two teams and at the same time declared Multan Sultans as their favorite for continuity.
This was the fourth clash between Lahore Qalandars and Multan Sultans in PSL 7. Earlier, Multan had won in two matches and Lahore in one.
From Multan Sultans, captain Rizwan, Shaun Masood, Amir Azmat, Reilly Russo, Tim David, Khushdal Shah, David Wiley, Asif Afridi, Roman Raees, Imran Tahir, and Shahnawaz Dhani took the field.
The Lahore Qalandars included Fakhr Zaman, Abdullah Shafiq, Kamran Ghulam, Muhammad Hafeez, Harry Brook, Zeeshan Ashraf, Samat Patel, David Wesa, Captain Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, and Zaman Khan in their final XI.
