Srinagar: Making his years of experience count, senior Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik sealed the must win game for Karachi Kings with last ball four vs Lahore Qalandars in Pakistan Super League 2024 on Saturday.
For Karachi Kings it was must win game to stay alive in the contest while as for defending Champions Lahore, it just a normal game as they have lost all hope to make it to playoffs.
The game between two bottom placed sides went down to the wire, keeping Karachi Kings on their toes as their playoff hopes hung by a thread.
In 178 runs chase, the Kings were off to a flyer start with 58 runs in the powerplay. However, quick fall of wickets in the middle pushed the game down to the final over.
Zaman Khan from Lahore Qalandars kept his nerves to chip two wickets in the first three deliveries of the 20th over.
However, with four needed off the final two deliveries, Hasan Ali showed presence of mind to dab for a single and let in-form batter Shoaib Malik on strike.
Experienced Malik calmed his nerves, stayed in his crease to slap a wide full toss delivery off to the point gap for a boundary, and sealed an absolutely nail-biting win for his side.
Unfortunately, Zaman slipped on his run up and fumbled his landing, which resulted in a full toss wide outside the off-stump. The pressure eventually got the better of Zaman as Lahore Qalandars suffered its seventh loss of the season.
With that, Karachi Kings somehow mathematically are still alive in the playoff race despite being in the bottom two in the points table.