LAHORE: Faqar Zaman’s half-century and a combined bowling effort helped defending champions Lahore Qalandars beat defending champions Hyderabad Kingsmen by 69 runs in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 11 curtain-raiser at the Gaddafi Stadium here on Thursday.
Chasing the 200-run target in their first PSL appearance, the Kingsmen’s batting line-up stumbled and piled on 130 runs before being bowled out in 20 overs.
Captain Marnus Labuschagne top scored for the Kingsmen with a cautious 26 off 22 balls, followed by No.9 batsman Riley Meredith with an unbeaten 19 off 25 balls.
Apart from them, opener Saim Ayub (17), veteran all-rounder Hammad Azam and tailender Muhammad Ali, 10 each, were the only other batsmen to score double figures.
Haris Rauf, Sikandar Raza and Ubaid Shah took 2 wickets each while Mustafizur Rahman and captain Shaheen Shah Afridi took 1 wicket each for Gulanders.
Despite a brief top-order collapse, the holders amassed 199/6 in their 20 overs as Gulanders captain Shaheen Shah Afridi opted to bat first.
The three-time champions got their innings off to a rousing start, courtesy of an 84-run partnership between their openers Faqar and Mohammad Naeem.
A crucial partnership ended when Hasan Khan was caught by Naeem at long-on to Rizwan Mehmood on the second delivery of the ninth over. The right-handed opener departed after scoring 30 off 19 balls with 4 fours and a six.
Gulanders, who lost two more wickets in the next two overs, were run out by top-order batsman Abdullah Shafiq (four), while Fakhar fell to Hasan shortly after reaching his half-century.
The left-handed opener top-scored for Gulanders with 53 off 39 balls with 9 fours.
Following a back-and-forth, Haseebullah Khan and Parvez Hossain Amon (14) put on a 37-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
Haseebullah then put on a blistering 45-run partnership with all-rounder Sikandar Raza, who played a blistering 24 off 10 balls that included two sixes and several fours.
The wicketkeeper-batsman remained unbeaten on 40 off 28 balls, while Asif Ali and captain Shaheen contributed well in the back-order, claiming nine and 12 not outs respectively.
Riley Meredith and Hasan took 2 wickets each and Muhammad Ali took one wicket for the Kingsmen side.