Lahore Qalandars had a terrific outing at the Gaddafi Stadium on Monday as they registered a comprehensive 110-run win over Islamabad United. Everything seemed to be going their way right from the toss which the home team won and opted to bat. Riding on significant contributions from each of their top-order batter- Mirza Baig 20 off 17, Fakhar Zaman 36 off 23, Abdullah Shafique 45 off 24 and Sam Billings 33 from 23 balls, Lahore Qalandars put on a formidable 200/7.
However, that wasn't all as it was proper team effort from the Lahore batters and even the lower middle-order including the likes of Sikandar Raza (23* off 10), David Wiese (12 off 6) and Rashid Khan (18 off 12) also played their part in helping the team reach that total. The shot of the innings was perhaps played by Afghanistan's T20I captain Rashid whose MS Dhoni like "Helicopter shot" went for a massive 99-metre six.
Rashid's shot came in the penultimate over of their innings which was being bowled by England's Tom Curran. While the English all-rounder pitched the ball at a back of a length outside the off-stump, Rashid was quick to judge the length of that ball and brought out the helicopter, making a sweet connection with the ball and sending it 99-metres far over the deep-midwicket fence.
Check out the video here:
In response to Lahore's 200, Islamabad United were bowled out for 90 with Rahmanullah Gurbaz top-scoring with 23. Rashid returned to produce figures of 2 for 8 from 3 overs. Wiese and Raza scalped 3 for 17 and 2 for 6 respectively while Haris Rauf and Zaman Khan picked a wicket each.
Wiese was adjudged the Player Of The Match for his performance.
While comparing the pitch to the match they played on this surface previously, the South African-born Namibian cricketer said that it was assiting the bowlers a bit more than their previous fixture.