Lahore (Sports News): Fast bowler Hunain Shah defended six runs in the 20th over against Islamabad United as Hyderabad Kingsmen bagged a thrilling two-run win in defence of their total of 186-5 in the second Eliminator of the HBL Pakistan Super League 11 here at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore on Friday night.
Hyderabad Kingsmen, who have now won seven out of their last eight matches, will face Peshawar Zalmi in the final of the tournament on Sunday.
The second Eliminator saw many ebbs and flows before being settled by a mere two runs courtesy Hunain’s brilliance as he backed his Eliminator 1 figures of 2-31 with 2-37 against United and currently on a tally of 16 wickets – joint-third leading wicket-taker in the tournament so far.
Hunain was up against the raging duo of Faheem Ashraf (19, 11b, 2x6s) and Chris Green (21 not out, 9b, 3x4s, 1x6) with only six runs to defend after Mohammad Ali’s penultimate over going for 22 runs. He began the over with a dot and a single before bowling a yorker to Faheem with United needing five off three.
Faheem holed out on the fourth ball to Hassan Khan, whose acrobatic brilliance in the 16th over at the midwicket boundary had already saved a sure fire six off the same batter. Imad could only take a single on the fifth ball, while Green was unable to put bat on ball on the last ball mustering a leg-bye.
Mark Chapman top scored for Islamabad United with 43 off 26 balls and swung the pendulum in favour of his team after walking in to bat at 57-3 in eight overs replacing Devon Conway (30, 25b, 3x4s, 1x6) in the middle. He saw the back of Shadab Khan (22, 24b, 1x4) in the 11th over with United needing 119 off 59 balls.
Shadab and Conway had early resurrected the innings from 15-2 in 2.2 overs as Akif and Mohammad Ali removed Sameer Minhas and Mohsin Riaz for single-digit scores.
Haider Ali (31, 16b, 2x4s, 2x6s) and Chapman then stitched a game-turning 64-run stand for the fifth wickets off 33 balls, which was broken by Mohammad Ali in the 16th over. At this juncture Chapman was joined by Faheem and the duo took 13 runs off Akif’s over. Chapman fell to Hunain in the 18th over after hitting him for a maximum.
Hunain finished his third over and 18th of the innings giving away 13 runs and leaving Mohammad Ali 28 runs off 12 balls. Green pumped Ali for two fours and a six, while Faheem hit him for a six on the last ball of 19th over with Hyderabad almost ousted and the equation razed to six off as many balls.
Earlier, Hyderabad were inserted in by Shadab Khan and lost their player of the match from Eliminator for a four-ball duck. Richard Gleeson struck in his first over to jolt Kingsmen and after which skipper Marnus Labuschagne (39, 32b, 4x4s, 1x6) and Saim Ayub (38, 27b, 7x4s) put on 70 runs for the second wicket.
Islamabad struck back with the wicket of Saim in the 10th over and then Imad dealt a double blow in the 13th over removing Marnus and Glenn Maxwell in a space of three balls. Usman Khan (61 not out, 30b, 10x4s) and Kusal Perera (37 not out, 21b, 4x4s, 2x6s) then blazed 101 off 50 balls with the partnership only ending on the last ball of the innings.
The duo had hit at least a boundary each in all the over after the 12th over went for only three runs. For United, Imad picked up two wickets, while Green, Gleeson and Faheem dismissed one batter each.
Scores in brief:
Hyderabad Kingsmen 186-5, 20 overs (Usman Khan 61 not out, Marnus Labuschagne 39, Saim Ayub 38, Kusal Perera 37; Imad Wasim 2-16)
Islamabad United 184-7, 20 overs (Mark Chapman 43, Devon Conway 30, Haider Ali 31, Shadab Khan 22, Chris Green 21 not out, Faheem Ashraf 19; Hunain Shah 2-37, Mohammad Ali 2-44)
Player of the Match – Hunain Shah (Hyderabad Kingsmen)
Sunday’s Final: Peshawar Zalmi v Hyderabad Kingsmen at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore; 7pm PKT
