Enterprising knocks from Fakhar Zaman (76 off 47) and Daryl Mitchell (75 off 41) led the way for Lahore Qalandars who registered a thumping 65-run win against Karachi Kings in Karachi. Opting to bat, Lahore posted a healthy total of 201 on the back of fifties from Fakhar and Mitchell although Karachi skipper Hasan Ali (4-28) did pull things back at the death. The chase never got going for the Kings as Shaheen Afridi (3-34) and Rishad Hossain (3-26) starred with the ball for Lahore.

The start wasn’t ideal for the Qalandars as they lost Mohammad Naeem and Abdullah Shafique to Hasan Ali’s new-ball burst. However, Fakhar and Mitchell combined for a fluent 125-run stand to put the innings back on track. The left-hander was the aggressor while his Kiwi partner accelerated through the innings to give the perfect platform for Lahore. At one point, a total in the 210-220 range seemed to be on the cards but once the partnership was broken, the innings lost some sting despite cameos from Sam Billings and Sikandar Raza.

Even with a lackluster finish, Qalandars breached the 200-run mark and then started with a bang in the second half through Shaheen. The Qalandars captain removed David Warner and James Vince for ducks to set the tone for his side. Tim Seifert also perished in the seventh over and Karachi never recovered from these early blows. They needed two of their top six to make big scores but that wasn’t to be. Rishad and Raza in the middle overs strangled the Kings’ batting with Khushdil Shah (39 off 27) being the only batter to offer some resistance.

Hasan Ali got some runs with the bat down the order but that only helped to reduce the net run rate damage. A clinical win for the Qalandars who have now won two games on the trot.

Brief scores: Lahore Qalandars 201/6 in 20 overs (Fakhar Zaman 75, Daryl Mitchell 75; Hasan Ali 4-28) beat Karachi Kings 136 in 19.1 overs (Khushdil Shah 39; Rishad Hossain 3-26, Shaheen Afridi 3-34) by 65 runs