LAHORE: Lahore Qalandars’ veteran opener Faqar Zaman on Thursday added the distinction of becoming only the second player to cross 3000 runs in the Pakistan Super League (PSL).
The left-handed batsman achieved the milestone during the PSL 11 curtain raiser against Hyderabad Kingsmen at the Gaddafi Stadium here.
Faqar entered the aforementioned tournament with 2964 runs to his name and created history when he smashed Kingsmen’s Mohammad Ali for a boundary off the final delivery of the batting powerplay.
As a result, Faqar joined Peshawar Zalmi captain Babar Azam in the elusive list of batsmen to have scored over 3000 runs in the marquee league. Babur has scored 3792 runs in 100 matches at an average of 44.61 and a strike rate of 127.50 in 10 seasons.
Most runs in Pakistan Super League
- Babar Assam (IU/KK/PZ) – 3792 runs in 100 matches
- Faqar Zaman (LQ) – 3002 runs in 98* matches
- Mohammad Rizwan (KK/LQ/MS) – 2770 runs in 93 matches
- Shoaib Malik (KK/MS/PZ/QG) – 2350 runs in 93 matches
- Riley Rossow (MS/QG) – 2287 runs from 95 matches
A record-breaking start by Faqar, with ample support from his opener Mohammad Naeem, gave defending champions Lahore Qalandars a brilliant start in their PSL 11 campaign opener against debutants Kingsmen as they reached 83/0 in eight overs.
The 35-year-old was the main aggressor of the opening position, scoring an unbeaten 46 off 31 balls with the help of nine fours, while Naeem scored an unbeaten 30 off 18 balls.
Playing XIs
Lahore: Mohammad Naeem, Faqar Zaman, Abdullah Shafiq, Pervez Hossain Eman, Haseebullah Khan, Sikandar Raza, Asif Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi (catch), Haris Rauf, Mustafizur Rahman and Ubaid Shah.
Hyderabad Kingsmen: Saim Ayub, Usman Khan, Marnes Lapuzagne (catch), Gusal Perera, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Rizwan Mehmood, Hasan Khan, Hammad Azam, Riley Meredith, Mohammad Ali and Akif Javed.