SHARJAH: After a low-key start in the HBL Pakistan Super League, Fakhar Zaman finally rose to the occasion on Wednesday with a fabulous batting exhibition as Lahore Qalandars chalked up their third straight win. Quetta Gladiators were the latest franchise to bite the dust.

Lahore posted 186-4, their highest total in this year’s tournament, predominantly due to Fakhar’s pyrotechnics, and then restricted Quetta — who are already through to the playoffs — to 169-6, winning by 17 runs at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

Fakhar was undoubtedly the star of the opening half after Sarfraz Ahmed, predictably enough, asked the opposition to bat first. The 27-year-old left-hander set alight this compact ground with a flurry of exciting strokes that fetched him nine fours and six sixes in a 50-ball knock of 94. His innings surpassed Shane Watson’s 90 not out against Karachi Kings as the best individual score in the ongoing tournament.

On a night where big hits constituted the main dish on the menu, no fewer than 72 runs were scored in boundaries by man of the match Fakhar. The entire match saw 22 sixes, with Test paceman Rahat Ali enduring the heaviest bombardment in the 15th over of Lahore’s innings when Fakhar Zaman clobbered him for three sixes in four deliveries.

Gulraiz Sadaf played a fine hand of 42 not out (27 balls, three sixes and two fours) in the company of Fakhar as the fourth-wicket pair put on 68 in only 30 balls.

Quetta made a valiant attempt to get close to the target, but despite Rilee Rossouw blasting five sixes in a 22-ball 42 and Jason Roy making 36 off 26 balls (three sixes and two fours) in his first appearance.

Scores in brief:

LAHORE QALANDARS 186-4 in 20 overs (Fakhar Zaman 94, Gulraiz Sadaf 42 not out, S.P. Narine 20 not out);

QUETTA GLADIATORS 169-6 in 20 overs (R.R. Rossouw 42, J.J. Roy 36, Sarfraz Ahmed 28 not out; S.P. Narine 2-22, Yasir Shah 2-35).

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2018