Man of the Match today PSL 2022: The ‘Eliminator 2’ encounter between LQ and IU was an edge-of-the-seat thriller.
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During the ‘Eliminator 2’ encounter of the ongoing seventh season of the Pakistan Super League, the Lahore Qalandars prevailed over Islamabad United by 6 runs in what was an absolute humdinger of a knock-out game.
Chasing the score of 168/7 posted by Lahore, Shadab Khan-led Islamabad side got off to a poor start losing 4 of their wickets inside the Powerplay, while posting 47 runs on the scoreboard.
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However, Islamabad’s best two batters in the season- Alex Hales (38 off 29) and Azam Khan (40 off 28), stitched together a wonderful 79-run stand off mere 47 deliveries for the 5th wicket, to bring their side right back into the game, with the equation down to 51 runs required off the final 7 Overs.
But, the tables turned real quick after Azam Khan was Run-Out off a direct hit by Haris Rauf during the 14th Over. IU then, consistently kept losing wickets, despite the required run-rate well within the grasp.
With 7 runs required off the last 2 deliveries, and with nine wickets down, IU’s medium pacer Waqas Maqsood threw in the kitchen sink, to smash David Wiese towards the cow-corner region, only for Abdullah Shafique to take a brilliant catch under pressure to prevent the match from going into the Super Over.
Wiese, in fact was handed the task to defend 8 runs off the final Over.
Man of the Match today PSL 2022
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Earlier, post winning the Toss, even Lahore got off to a poor start having lost both their openers within the first six Overs. However, Abdullah Shafiq (52 off 28) played a blinder of an innings, alongside useful contributions from Kamran Ghulam (30 off 26) and Mohammad Hafeez (28 off 28) to huff and puff to 141/7 in 19 Overs.
It was in the final Over, that the Namibian all-rounder David Wiese (28* off 8), with the help of 3 Sixes and a Four, smashed 27 runs to power Lahore’s score to 168 and post a challenging total for the bowlers to defend.
Also, ending up with bowling figures of 2.4-0-20-1, including the task to defend 8 runs in the final Over, David Wiese was adjudged the ‘Player of the Match’ of ‘Eliminator 2’.
Lahore Qalandars will now face Multan Sultans in the grand finale on February 27.
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