365 Sporting Days

A beautiful day in England meant I took myself out for the day rather than watch the cricket on the TV, but in common with PSL5 I aim to write about each game.

Match 2 – Islamabad United v Multan Sultans – Shadab won the toss for Islamabad and out Multan in to bat. Islamabad won by 3 wickets

Multan Sultans 150 for 8. Newly appointed captain Rizwan top scored with 71 from 53 balls, after big overseas signing Chris Lynn was out for 1 in the second over. Wasim tool 3 for 29 to help restrict Multan to 150 in their 20 overs

Islamabad United – 171 for 7. Lewis Gregory coming in at 7 top scored for Islamabad with 49 from 31 balls to add to his 2 for 31 with the ball. Islamabad made the total with an over remaining.

Star Man- LEWIS GREGORY

Match 3 – Lahore Qalanders v Peshawar Zalmi – Sohail Akhtar won the toss and put Peshawar in to bat. Lahore won by 4 wickets

Peshawar Zalmi – 140 for 6. One of my favourites, Ravi Bopara top scored with 50 from 44, coming in at 5 after Peshawar had been 18 fro 2, with Imam being caught by Dunk from the bowling of Shaheen for a Golden Duck. Shaheen was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 14 from his 4 overs.

Lahore Qalanders – 143 for 6. There was no stand out innings in this winning run chase, Hafeez, who seems to be in the form of his life, top scored with 33 from 26 balls. The job was done with 15 balls remaining

Star Man – RAVI BOPARA (with a bit of bias on my part)

Match 4 – Lahore Qalanders v Quetta Gladiators – Sohail Akhtar won the toss and put Quetta in to bat . Lahore won by 9 wickets

Quetta Gladiators – 178 for 6. The Universe Boss lived up to his nickname, Chris Gayle top scored for Quetta with 68 from 40 balls. Captain Sarfaraz contributed 40 from 33 balls to help build a decent total of 178.

Lahiore Qalanders – 179 for 1. I managed to watch most of this innings and 40 year old Hafeez coming in at 3 pretty much gave a master class. In the 15 years that Hafeez has been playing T20 his strike rate only dipped under 100 once, in 2020 it was 138.84 and he was the 7th highest runs scorer. In this match he scored 73 at a strike rate of 221 .21 it took him just 33 balls. Fakhar who’d opened the innings scored 83 from 52 – a star innings in ant other game! Lahire hit the required runs in 18.2 overs.

Star Man – HAFEEZ!