Junaid Khan was the hat-trick hero as the Multan Sultans defeated the Lahore Qalandars by 43 runs in their second match of the Pakistan Super League 2018 in Dubai on Friday.

The Qalandars won the toss and invited the Sultans to bat first.

Ahmed Shehzad and Kumar Sangakkara opened the batting for the Sultans, whereas Raza Hasan and Aamer Yamin shared the new ball for the Qalandars.

Both Shehzad and Sangakkara looked in good touch earlier on, with the latter hitting Yamin for this maximum over extra cover.

Shehzad brought up the Sultans' 50 in the 6th over.

Sangakkara showed the young Shaheen Afridi that he has plenty of learning to do in the game by pulling him for this brilliant six.

Shehzad also picked his shots, although his preferred route to reach the boundary was through the ground rather than aerial a la his partner.

The breakthrough the Qalandars so badly needed finally came on the first ball of the 11th over when Shehzad nicked a ball to the wicketkeeper.

Sohaib Maqsood misjudged a Yasir Shah googly and departed in the very next over. While Shah's delivery was superb, the same cannot be said about his new celebration.

While Shah may have managed to fool Maqsood, he had little luck against new batter Shoaib Malik.

Sangakkara, meanwhile, brought up his second straight half-century of the young tournament in the 15th over.

Malik showed no mercy to PSL debutant Raza Hasan, dancing down the track for this maximum,

Sangakkara's glittering 63-run innings finally came to an end in the 17th over when Mustafizur Rahman had him caught.

But there was little to worry about for the Sultans as Malik went after the Lahore bowlers.

Sunil Narine's 18th over was plundered for 18 runs but Rahman compensated for that by bowling brilliant 19th, conceding just three runs.

In the end, the Sultans finished with 179 runs on the board, thanks to some tight bowling at the death.

In reply, Fakhar Zaman and Sunil Narine opened the batting for the Qalandars, who are under pressure to perform well this year following two disappoint PSL season.

The Sultans decided to counter the Qalandars' left-handed pair with a southpaw duo of their own: Sohail Tanvir and Mohammad Irfan.

The Qalandars' opening strategy was for Narine to attack and Zaman to play the supporting role — something evident in this stroke:

The strategy worked for a while until it didn't as Irfan had Narine (26) caught at third man.

With Narine gone, Zaman assumed the role of the hitter, smashing Junaid Khan for this maximum in the 5th over.

Like Narine earlier, McCullum too ended up giving an easy catch to the fielder at third man, departing without troubling the scorers.

With the captain gone, his deputy took the charge.

Some of Zaman's work didn't look pretty but was effective and that's what matters more in T20 cricket.

Meanwhile, 'talented youngster' Umar Akmal did this to a Junaid Khan delivery.

The 12th over saw the Qalandars complete their 100.

In the next over, Akmal was dismissed as he tried clearing a Kieron Pollard slow ball but only found the palms of a fielder.

Pollard is used to hitting bowlers out of the park but he got a taste of his own medicine when Sohail Akhtar hit two 4s and a six in the 15th over.

Pollard did manage to redeem himself by picking up the prized wicket of Zaman, who was caught by a diving Ahmed Shehzad.

In the 16th over, Imran Tahir bowled out both Akhtar and Aamer Yamin as the Qalandars gained the upper hand.

Junaid Khan then removed Yasir Shah, Cameron Delport and Raza Hasan on successive deliveries to become only the second bowler to claim a hat-trick in a PSL match; the first being Karachi's Mohammad Amir.

The Qalandars lost a remarkable seven wickets for just four runs as they folded for just 136 run, falling 43 runs short of their target.

Tahir, and not Junaid, was named the man of the match, for it was his twin wickets that sparked the Qalandars' collapse.

Line-ups

Lahore Qalandars: Brendon McCullum, Sunil Narine, Cameron Delport, Mustafizur Rahman, Fakhar Zaman, Sohail Akhtar, Aamer Yamin, Umar Akmal, Sunil Narine, Yasir Shah, Raza Hasan.

Multan Sultans: Shoaib Maik, Ahmed Shehzad, Sohaib Maqsood, Darren Bravo, Saif Badar, Sohail Tanvir, Kieron Pollard, Kumar Sangakkara, Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Imran Tahir.

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