Chris Lynn's 52-ball hundred takes Lahore into PSL semi-finals
Sunday 15 March 2020 14:33, UK
Lahore Qalandars took advantage of Multan Sultans' many changes as Chris Lynn's brutal 52-ball century smashed the side into the Pakistan Super League semi-finals for the first time.
Lynn (113no off 55) and Fakhar Zaman (59 off 35) pummelled an opening stand of 100 inside nine overs to tee up a successful chase of 187, which Qalandars reached with seven balls and nine wickets to spare - Lynn ending the game with back-to-back sixes to take his tally of maximums to eight.
League leaders Sultans - already assured of top spot and a place in Tuesday's semi-finals in Lahore - rested Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Irfan and Imran Tahir for the game at Gaddafi Stadium, which was played behind closed doors due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Lynn subsequently thumped the second-string bowling attack - adding 12 fours to his eight sixes as he became the first Lahore batsman to hit a PSL ton - as Qalandars secured the win that guaranteed them a top-four berth, after suffering group-stage exits in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Qalandars will now face Karachi Kings in the semi-finals, with Sultans to face either Peshawar Zalmi or Quetta Gladiators.
Sultan's total of 186-6 was principally down to Khushdil Shah, who clubbed six sixes and five four fours in his 70 not out from 29 balls after his side had been reduced to 91-5 in the 13th over.
Khushdil bossed a sixth-wicket stand of 74 from just 37 balls with Rohail Nazir (24 off 17) and then cracked three sixes in Haris Rauf's final over to leave the seamer with eye-watering figures of 0-50 from three overs.
Ravi Bopara (33) and Sultans skipper Shan Masood (42) had initially rallied their team with a third-wicket partnership of 75 after the Sultans tumbled to 4-2 - Moeen Ali (1) bowled by Shaheen Afridi in the first over.
