And that's goodbye from the comm box. I Anurag Singh bid adieu on the behalf of my partners Vikhyat and Arjun. Stay tuned for the second match coming in less than an hour.
Shadab Khan: A decision is a final decision and if we had lost the game, I wouldn't have blamed the toss. But it was great to come back from difficult situations and win this match.
Asif Ali: The conditions were tough and it was a lot of pressure. I told my partner to go till the last over and play our shots and we did it easily.
Safe hands of the match awards goes to Iftikhar Ahmed and a cheque of PKR 400,000
Asif Ali gets the Player of the Match award and a cheque of PKR 750,000
Sohail Akhtar: Credit to their bowlers, Shadab and Musa. I thought Shadab was world-class. Our middle-order didn't take responsibility. We need to work on our death bowling. We gave away 10-15 runs more. We got a good opening partnership but lost our way in the middle. Hopefully, we can do well in the next few matches.
Lahore Qalandars came out all guns blazing as they smacked the seam bowlers all over the park. Shadab who was relying on the pacers to do the task brought in the overseas leggie, Fawad Alam who scalped Sohail in his first over. Another quick wicket followed as Zeeshan made his way back to the pavilion after a horrible runout. From 86/2, Qalandars were 100/9 in the matter of overs. Musa who bowled the second over was brought in by Shadab to provide a breakthrough and he delivered in style. The young gun got rid of the middle-order as he scalped three crucial wickets in the middle overs and halted the flow of runs as well. The spinners from the other end did a wonderful job in deceiving the lower-order batsman as no one really got set and showed intent against a spiritful bowling attack of the Uniteds. Qalandars lost 7 wickets for just 14 runs and Iftikhar Ahmed plucked a terrific catch to put an end to Qalandar's chase. In the end, they were all out for 124 in 18.2 overs and they fall short of the target by 28 runs resulting in a pretty comfortable victory for Islamabad United.
At 20 for 5, Islamabad looked dead and buried, but Asif Ali led the counter-punch, with a superb career-best 43-ball 75. He was ably aided by Ifthikar Ahmed, who missed his half-century by a run, together they added 123 runs off 76 balls and has pulled their team back in the hunt. The Qalandars were top-class in the first six overs, but Rashid had a rare off-day. Faulkner and Shaheen started wonderfully for Qalandars, but Rashid - for a change - was taken to the cleaners by the set pair, who've given their bowlers a good enough total to defend on a slow track.
And that’s the end of Lahore Qalandar’s innings and they fall short of the target by 28 runs. It has been a terrific turnaround by Islamabad United snatching this game from the pockets of Qalandars. An impressive display of all-round performance by the Uniteds. They showed character and spirit as they earn a well-deserved victory.