Fast bowler Mohammad Amir lifted Karachi Kings to their first Pakistan Super League final after beating Multan Sultans in a super over on Saturday. Multan face Lahore Qalandars on Sunday in a second eliminator for another chance to reach Tuesday’s final.
Mohammad Hafeez made an unbeaten 74 off 46 balls as Lahore knocked out 2017 champion Peshawar Zalmi by five wickets in the first eliminator. In the qualifier, Amir gave away only nine runs in the super over against Multan's Rilee Rossouw and Ravi Bopara. That was after Karachi's super over went for 13-2; Sherfane Rutherford smashed Sohail Tanvir for a six and a four.
The super over was forced on the last ball of regular Twenty20 when Karachi captain Imad Wasim flicked fast bowler Mohammad Ilyas to the square leg boundary to reach 141-8.
Babar Azam made 65 off 53 balls to have Karachi in control at 116-3 in the 17th over, but Karachi then lost five wickets in the last four overs. Wasim was 27 not out.
Multan were restricted to 141-7 with Bopara top-scoring on 40.
Karachi players wore black armbands in memory of Dean Jones, their coach who died in September. Both teams stood in a D shape to honour the former Australia batsman.
Lahore, in their first appearance in the playoffs, scored a winning 171-5 with an over to spare in reply to Peshawar's 170-9. Hafeez, who edged behind on 12 but wasn't called out, revived their chase with nine fours and two sixes, and David Wiese finished it off when he smashed Peshawar captain Wahab Riaz for successive sixes.
Peshawar were propelled by Shoaib Malik (39), Faf du Plessis (31) and Hardus Viljoen (37 off 16 balls), who smashed Haris Rauf for two sixes and two fours in the last over. The PSL playoffs resumed after an eight-month suspension because of the pandemic.
