Cricket Highlights, 18 Mar: PSL 2023 (Eliminator 2) – Lahore Qalandars vs Peshawar Zalmi

Lahore Qalandars vs Peshawar Zalmi (Eliminator 2) – Highlights

In Eliminator 2 of PSL 2023 at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Lahore Qalandars pulled off a stunning 4-wicket victory over Peshawar Zalmi with 7 balls to spare thanks to Mirza Tahir Baig’s brilliant batting style. Along with that, Peshawar Zalmi confirmed their spot in the final match as the 2nd finalist of the tournament.  

Peshawar Zalmi captain Babar Azam won the toss and elected to bat first. Lahore Qalandars bowled first as a result of that. Peshawar Zalmi collected a fighting score of 171 runs after losing 5 wickets in the scheduled 20 overs. In response, Lahore Qalandars reached the port of victory losing 6 wickets in 18.5 overs.  

Peshawar Zalmi‘s batters made a good start when they came to bat first. However, the pacer Zaman Khan bowled the opener Saim Ayub (9) in the 3rd ball of the 2nd over of the innings. But the bowlers of Lahore Qalandars could not benefit much from it.  Because for the 2nd wicket, captain Babar Azam and Mohammad Haris made an impeccable pair of 89 runs off 60 balls. Where they picked up 54 runs in 6 overs of power play. However, Peshawar Zalmi returned to the match with Rashid Khan’s double strikes in the 12th over. Rashid picked up the wickets of Babar (42 runs from 36 balls) on the 3rd ball of the over and Tom-Kohler Cadmore (0) on the 5th ball. 

On the other hand, Haris continued to lead the team toward a big total. Bhanuka Rajapaksa gave him worthy company. Finally, Haris returned to the pavilion after being bowled by pacer Shaheen Afridi for the team’s 153 runs in the last ball of the 18th over. He made 85 runs off 54 balls hitting 11 fours and 2 sixes.  However, Rajapaksa remained unbeaten after playing an inning of 25 runs off 18 balls. Because of that, Peshawar Zalmi was able to pick up a fighting score of 171 runs in the end. Zaman Khan and Rashid Khan took the maximum number of 2 wickets each for Lahore Qalandars. Besides, Shaheen Afridi picked up 1 wicket.  

Chasing a challenging target of 172 runs, the Lahore Qalandars batsmen were initially under some pressure from the bowling cannons of the Peshawar Zalmi bowlers. They lost opener Fakhar Zaman (6) in the 2nd over of the innings. After that, Ahsan Bhatti got out in the first ball of the 5th over, scoring only 15 runs.  

As a result, Lahore Qalandars managed to get 50 runs after losing 2 wickets in 6 overs of power play. In the 9th over, Abdullah Shafique was run out scoring just 10 runs. But opener Mirza Tahir Baig continued to lead the team towards victory by staying firm at the other end of the wicket. Although the team lost wickets regularly, the batsmen did not let the run rate slow down. 

Mirza Tahir Baig returned to the pavilion playing the match-winning innings of 54 runs off 42 balls, with 7 fours and 2 sixes. Besides, playing two effective innings, the wicket-keeper batsman, Sam Billings 28 off 21 balls, and Sikandar Raja 23 off 14 balls got departed.  

But in the end, thanks to the unbeaten innings of David Wiese (9 runs from 7 balls) and Shaheen Afridi (11 balls from 4 balls), Lahore Qalandars reached the verge of victory with 7 balls remaining. For Peshawar Zalmi, Azmatullah Omarzai took the highest number of 2 wickets and Wahab Riaz, Aamer Jamal, and Salman Irshad took 1 wicket each.  

With this, the defending champion Lahore Qalandars reached the final for the second time in a row. On the other hand, another finalist Multan Sultans confirmed the final for the third consecutive time. In the last season too, these two teams met in the final match. Lahore Qalandars won by 42 runs that time. Tonight, again these two teams will enter the field to compete for the title.

Lahore Qalandars vs Peshawar Zalmi Scoreboard

Peshawar Zalmi – 171/5 (20.0)

Lahore Qalandars – 176/6 (18.5)

Result – Lahore Qalandars won by 4 wickets

Player of the match – Mirza Tahir Baig

Lahore Qalandars vs Peshawar Zalmi Playing XIs