That's the end of the proceedings for the night. Do join us on Sunday for the grand finale. For now, it's me, Ajay Singh, along with my fellow commentators Akshay Bidhe and Shubham Agarwal, signing off. Good night and goodbye!
Shaheen Shah Afridi | Winning Captain:"Boys showed some brilliant fight. The plan was to fight till the end. Credit to Wiese for giving us that momentum with the bat in the end. He was outstanding today! As a captain and the lead bowler, I see it as my responsibility to strike upfront. It worked. Thanks to the crowd for staying till the end and supporting both the teams."
Shadab Khan | Losing Captain:"I think the match could've ended much earlier had we played some smart cricket. We were hurt by injuries and players leaving throughout the tournament. Nonetheless, I am pretty happy with the way we played. We win together, we lose together. Our youngsters have shown good character. Hopefully, we'll come back better next year. Our youngsters will get better as they play more cricket. They must've learnt a lot from the experienced players in the dressing room and should use the learnings in domestic cricket."
David Wiese | Player of the Match: "Unbelievable game. Unbelievable team effort from us. Everyone played their role to perfection and helped us get across the line. Wanted to hit the right areas and knew that a couple of dot balls would put pressure on them. Thank you to the fans for staying here till the end and plenty of emotions running out and happy to finish on the winning side."
David Wiese has been awarded the Player of the Match award.
Time for the presentation.
So, the final of the PSL7 will feature the teams that topped the table at the end of the league stage. Multan Sultans vs Lahore Qalandars it is then for Sunday! Will Shaheen Shah Afridi lead the Qalandars to their maiden PSL title, or will we see the Multan Sultans lift their second championship? We'll find out in a couple of days' time. Stay tuned as we have got the post-match presentation coming up.
As for the Lahore Qalandars' bowling, all of their bowlers except Hafeez, who bowled a 13-run over, were fairly economical throughout the chase. The trump card was David Wiese, who brought out all his experience to deny the United a win in the final over where he defended 8 runs. The wicket of Asif Ali on the last ball of the penultimate over meant the Qalandars started the final over as the favourites, with the tailenders in the middle.
Shadab Khan and Co lost some early wickets and were pushed on the back foot early in their chase. The innings was then steadied by Alex Hales and Azam Khan, who brought them as close as ever to a win. While Asif Ali did carry the responsibility and took the chase deep, he lost his wicket just when his side needed him to put the pedal to the metal. Wasim Jr refused singles off the first two deliveries of the final overs and was run out on the third. That surely hurt the United as they fell 6 runs short of the target to storm into the grand finale.
Oof! The drama finally comes to an end as the Lahore Qalandars take the game away from the Islamabad United by the closest of margins. If you're wondering who's going to be the player of the match, give the damn award to David Wiese already. The South African, now Namibian veteran first gave his side a total to defend and then defended just 8 in the final over! This game kept swinging like a pendulum, with both the sides pulling momentum their way throughout the chase.