Islamabad United were defeated by Lahore Qalandars by 119 runs on Thursday in the Pakistan Super League after Fakhar Zaman scored a risky century and Rashid Khan destroyed the batting lineup with 4-21.
Fakhar, who was out on balls 1 and 70, successfully appealed a leg-before-wicket ruling on 85 using television footage, scoring 115 off 57 balls as part of Lahore’s commanding total of 226-5.
With his crisp googlies and legspin, Rashid outwitted the middle order as Islamabad was bowled out for 107 in 15.1 overs, the most loss in PSL history in terms of runs.
When Multan Sultans defeated Quetta Gladiators by 117 runs last year, they set the previous benchmark.
Before Rashid raced through the middle order, fast bowler Zaman Khan (2-17) bowled wonderfully in the powerplay and took the wickets of Rahmanullah Gurbaz (15) and Colin Munro (11). Meanwhile, David Wiese produced a magnificent wide yorker and had Alex Hales caught behind for 18 in the ninth over.
Islamabad’s pursuit was severely hampered when wicketkeeper and in-form batsman Azam Khan hurt his left hand’s ring finger during batting and had to be taken to the hospital for precautionary X-rays.
Both clubs have already earned a spot in the playoffs, but Lahore is guaranteed to be in the top two after successfully protecting totals in seven of its nine league games. It now leads the standings with 14 points, and its final league matchup against Karachi Kings comes on Sunday.
Islamabad, which has 12 points and will play Peshawar Zalmi in its final league match on Sunday, still has a chance to place in the top two.
After Shaheen Shah Afridi won the toss and decided to bat, Islamabad battled to control the scoring rate as Asif Ali dropped a legitimate catch of Fakhar in the third over before the left-hander broke loose and reached his half-century off 24 balls.
Shadab Khan, the captain of Islamabad, gave up 32 runs in his two overs, demonstrating his inability to stem the flow of runs in the middle overs.
Fakhar and Kamran Ghulam put on a quick 122-run partnership as Faheem Ashraf (0-43) and Mohammad Wasim (1-48) responded with poor numbers. Kamran Ghulam scored 41 runs off 30 balls.
In the 18th over, Wasim took a superb diving catch at deep backward square to eventually remove Fakhar, who had smashed eight fours and eight sixes, but Sam Billings played a little cameo of 32 to give Lahore strong finish in the end.