2am And that is it from the first evening of PSL 4! Superb skills on display all through the match and quite a bit of fireworks. See you soon!
Faheem Ashraf is the Man of the Match.
Usama Ali: "Regardless of who you were supporting, it's encouraging as a Pakistani fan to see Faheem Ashraf and Asif Ali chase down a target together. Will be interesting in this whole tournament to see if players like them can improve like this, and later translate it internationally. "
Asad: "In all 3 previous seasons of psl in the first match of psl the team which lost their first game qualified for the final feeling for lahore"
Bilal: "Islamabad always finds a way of winning matches. One way or the other they will out the opposition down"
Mudassir Nadeem: "My goodness this Islamabad team has really strong bating lineup with shadab and patel still to come.."
Ilty: "I actually thought it was bad captaincy. He let a spinner bowl the 16th over and they just got into the zone against him. Then bowled Rahat at the wrong time who was bowling terribly by bowling length. Haris rauf should have been tried who's known to be good at the death."
1:41am This explains everything, doesn't it? Islamabad have won with four balls to spare thanks to a 59-run stand for the sixth wicket. And it took only 4.4 overs. This is why they didn't spend too much time trying to build the innings even when wickets fell quickly. They didn't need to. Samit Patel, 238 T20s - 28 fifties - at a strike rate of 125, didn't get a bat today. Neither did Shadab. And that is the story. They pulled it back late in Lahore's innings, and blazed away early on to keep the required rate within distance. A three-wicket over from Rahat changed the momentum somewhat, but Islamabad didn't let them build on that. A bright start to the evening for Qalandars, but it'll feel like more of the same right now.
END OF OVER:19 | 11 Runs | IU: 171/5 (1 run required from 6 balls, RR: 9.00, RRR: 1.00)
- Faheem Ashraf17 (9b)
- Asif Ali36 (19b)
- Shaheen Shah Afridi4-0-45-0
- Rahat Ali4-0-29-4
Anyone still hoping for a Lahore win? Would be among the greatest overs in T20 history. Hafeez will try to bowl it...
Wasi: "Only if Asif and Faheem could perform like this for Pakistan too."
Stays around the wicket. 12 off 12.
END OF OVER:18 | 16 Runs | IU: 160/5 (12 runs required from 12 balls, RR: 8.88, RRR: 6.00)
- Asif Ali28 (15b)
- Faheem Ashraf15 (7b)
- Rahat Ali4-0-29-4
- Shaheen Shah Afridi3-0-34-0
Tariq: "@Hadi: It's weekend in UAE."
saqib: "i am a die hard fan of qalandars and i dont want islamabad to win but i do want asif faheem and shadab to perform"
Zeenia: "Excuse me! What's going on here?! Like how and why and nooo plzz.... U can't do this to us Lahore!!!"
Ziyad Jameel: "Man, Devcich just dropped the game!"
Hadi: "Its almost 1:30am!!! 2:30 in Pak. Should be a crime having matches at this hour regardless of weekend"
END OF OVER:17 | 9 Runs | IU: 144/5 (28 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 8.47, RRR: 9.33)
- Faheem Ashraf15 (7b)
- Asif Ali13 (9b)
- Shaheen Shah Afridi3-0-34-0
- Yasir Shah4-0-30-0
Ahsan Butt: "That late mess that LQ created in their innings is going to cost them this game."
Saran: "Good to see Faheem back in bit of form with bat,needed badly both in PSL and in national side"
Shaheen, around the wicket
END OF OVER:16 | 11 Runs | IU: 135/5 (37 runs required from 24 balls, RR: 8.43, RRR: 9.25)
- Faheem Ashraf15 (6b)
- Asif Ali4 (4b)
- Yasir Shah4-0-30-0
- Carlos Brathwaite2-0-25-1
Ahmed Shaukat: "That shot of Hussain made me recall Misbah's shot in T20 final in 2007."