dyton mupawaenda
Sports Reporter
CHEVRONS captain, Sikandar Raza’s stint at the 2024 Pakistan Super League T20 cricket tournament came to an end on Sunday as his Lahore Qalandars concluded their round-robin matches with another agonising defeat.
Qalandars finished bottom of the six-team league with just one win from 10 matches with eight defeats and one no-result.
That was not good enough for the play-offs and Raza was making his way out, getting ready for the more prestigious Indian Premier League, IPL.
Qalandars went into Sunday’s final match against Quetta Gladiators already out of running for the playoffs but put up a brave fight before suffering a six-wicket defeat off the final ball.
Defending 166/4 in which Raza was unbeaten on six runs from five balls, Qalandars had restricted the Gladiators to 153/3 at the end of the 19th over and 163/4 with one ball remaining.
However, Mohammad Wasim smashed a six off Shaheen Shah Afridi to secure victory.
It was a heartbreaking conclusion for Afridi who conceded 16 runs off the final over having conceded just 25 runs in his previous three overs.
With the win, the Gladiators secured a place in the playoffs with 11 points from nine matches and will still have to play one more match before discovering their final ranking as there are three teams tied on 11 points.
After the match, Raza thanked and bade farewell to all stakeholders.
“Not the results we wanted but plenty of lessons learned and memories made. Thank you and @lahoreqalandars for this year @thePSLt20 #inshAllah be back soon Lastly thank you to fans for showing us love and support in difficult times,” said Raza on his X account. Raza finished the tournament with 91 runs from eight innings at an average of 15.16 and also claimed seven wickets.
Online Reporter