Zimbabwe's Raza flies in to take Lahore to PSL title

Yahoo

25-05-2025

Pakistan Super League, Lahore
Quetta Gladiators 201-9 (20 overs): Hasan 76 (43); Shaheen 3-24
Lahore Qalandars 204-4 (19.5 overs): K Perera 62* (31), Raza 22* (7)
Lahore Qalandars won by six wickets
Scorecard
Sikandar Raza hit the winning runs to lead Lahore Qalanders to the Pakistan Super League title, a little more than 24 hours after he was playing for Zimbabwe against England in their Test loss at Trent Bridge.
The all-rounder struck a six and a four from consecutive deliveries to take Lahore to victory against Quetta Gladiators with one ball to spare.
Needing 202 for victory, Raza joined Kusal Perera at the crease with 20 balls remaining and the pair staged an unbroken 59-run partnership to complete the highest chase in a PSL final.
Quetta scored 201-9 after winning the toss, with Hasan Nawaz striking a 43-ball 76, while star Lahore seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi took 3-24.
Gladiators topped the regular season table while Lahore finished fourth, but the Qalanders won three consecutive knockout games to seal their third title in four years.
Raza had been batting in Nottingham on Saturday, scoring 60 as Zimbabwe fell to an innings defeat.
The match finishing a day early allowed Raza time to fly back to Pakistan, arriving at the Gaddafi Stadium 10 minutes before the toss.
He dismissed Rilee Rossouw in the first innings, finishing with figures of 1-43, then came to the wicket with Lahore needing 57 from 3.2 overs, having only scored 48 runs since the halfway mark.
He immediately hit Mohammad Amir for a four and six to set his side back on track, before Perera hit three sixes and two fours from the next 12 balls, to leave Lahore needing 13 from Faheem Ashraf's final over.
The pair had added five runs after three deliveries before Raza finished the match in style, lifting a flat six over point and then whipping a four through mid-wicket.
Quetta came into the match on the back of an eight-match undefeated run, but swiftly lost openers Saud Shakeel (4) and Finn Allen (12).
Hasan arrived at number four, adding partnerships of 67 and 46 with Avishka Fernando and Dinesh Chandimal.
The second pairing was ended in dramatic fashion by Shaheen, who removed both batters in the space of four deliveries in the 18th over.
Amir and Abrar Ahmed then fell to consecutive Haris Rauf balls without scoring, meaning Quetta had lost four wickets for two runs.
Faheem Ashraf (28 from eight balls) ensured their innings did not end with a whimper, hammering three sixes and a four from Salman Mirza's last over before being caught off the final ball.
Lahore, who had the advantage of all the play-off matches being staged at their home stadium, saw opener Fakhar Zaman trapped lbw by Abrar for 11 in the fourth over.
Mohammad Naeem (46) and Abdullah Shafique (41) put Lahore in a solid position, but they were facing a formidable required run-rate by the time Bhanuka Rajapaksa was caught off Amir in the 17th over.
That, however, brought Raza into bat, and the Zimbabwean took flight with the bat to win the PSL title for his team.
Most runs
1. Sahibzada Farhan (Islamabad United) - 449 runs
2. Fakhar Zaman (Lahore Qalanders) - 439
3. Hasan Nawaz (Quetta Gladiators) - 399
4. James Vince (Karachi Kings) - 378
5. Abdullah Shafique (Lahore Qalanders) - 376
Most wickets
1. Shaheen Shah Afridi (Lahore Qalanders) - 19
=2. Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf (both Quetta Gladiators), Hasan Ali, Abbas Afridi (both Karachi Kings), Haris Rauf (Lahore Qalanders) - 17
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