Junaid Khan stole the show on the second night of the Pakistan Super League as his hat-trick sealed a convincing 43-run win for Multan Sultans on Friday.
Defending 180 against Lahore Qalanders at Dubai International Stadium, Khan took centre stage in the 16th over by removing Yasir Shah, Cameron Delport and Hasan Raza in consecutive deliveries.
The left-arm pacer first got Shah out after being caught behind by Kumar Sangakkara, before Delport hit straight to Ahmed Shehzad’s hands. His hat-trick was completed when Raza found Shoaib Malik at short midwicket. When Imran Tahir (3-27) wrapped up the triumph with Shaheen Afridi’s dismissal, Lahore had lost their last seven wickets for just four runs.
For the winners, it was their second in the competition following their victory over Peshawar Zalmi on Thursday and their coach Tom Moody will have been pleased with what he saw.
Earlier, Kumar Sangakkara rolled back the years once again. After hitting 57 against Peshawar Zalmi on Thursday, the 40-year-old scored 63 runs off 44 deliveries including five boundaries and three sixes. His knock along with Ahmed Shehzad’s 38 saw Multan put on 88 for the opening wicket before Lahore found the breakthrough.
Although Shoaib Maqsood (4) fell to Shah, who ran out big-hitter Keiron Pollard for a duck, Multan’s total was boosted with a 28-ball 48 from skipper Shoaib Malik as they posted 179-5 in their 20 overs.
The target was always going to be a struggle for Lahore and especially so after they were 40-2 with Brendon McCullum and Sunil Narine back in the dressing-room. But, Fakhar Zaman (49) and Umar Akmal (31) put on a 65-run stand before Multan got their breakthrough and the Lahore batting-order began to crumble.