Afridi's three wicket haul fires Karachi to 27-run win against Qalandars

Shahid Afridi's three wickets for 19 runs gave a 27-run victory to the Karachi Kings against Lahore Qalandars in the highly-charged match held at the Dubai International Stadium.

Courtesy late-hitting by Ravi Bopara, Karachi Kings scored a fighting total of 159 runs against Lahore Qalandars, however, the Qalandars lost their momentum after the dismissal of skipper Brendon McCullum. 

Second Innings

Sunil Narine was the first to be dismissed by the Kings as he departed after giving an outside edge to the wicket-keeper Muhammad Rizwan.

A brilliant catch by Ravi Bopara ended opener Fakhar Zaman's stay at the crease. 

A failed reverse sweep by skipper McCullum costed the skipper his wicket on the ball of Imad Wasim. He departed after scoring 44 runs.

Umar Akmal (6) failed to anchor the innings built by skipper McCullum, he was stumped on the ball of Afridi.

Afridi took his third wicket of the match as middle-order batsman Sohail Akhtar returned after giving a catch to the long-on fielder. 

Shinwari took his second wicket of Agha Salman after scoring just 15 runs.

A terrific catch at the point ended Ramdin's stay at the crease and Qalandars' hope in the match.

First Innings

Kings overpowered Qalandars in the start of the match as in just 14 balls Joe Denly scored five boundaries and a six. Things were turning usual for Qalandars until a breakthrough given by Yasir Shah. Denly departed on a score of 28 runs.

On the very next ball, Mustafizur Rahman turned the odds in favour of Qalandars, with the lbw wicket of in-form batsman Babar Azam. The Pakistani middle order batsman was dismissed for a duck.

Khurram Manzoor was next to go. On the score of eight runs, he was caught by Umar Akmal on the mid-on, on the bowl of Sunil Narine. A wild slog which didnt even clear infield. 

A terrific volleyball catch by Umar Akmal assisted by Shaheen Afridi at the long-on ended Ingram's inning. A sight which won't be forgotten.  

The next to depart was Muhammad Rizwan, who edged the carrom ball, bowled by Narine to skipper Brendon McCullum at the first slip. 

A catch and bowled by Sohail Khan ended Imad Wasim's time on the crease.

Sohail Khan got the prize wicket of Shahid Afridi on the very next after getting hit for a six.

Qalandars made three changes in their squad tonight. 

Gulraiz Sadaf, Raza Hasan and Cameron Delport were dropped as Sohail Khan, Denesh Ramdin and Agha Salman made their place in the final playing-11. Meanwhile, on the other hand, Usman Khan Shinwari replaced injured Muhammad Amir for the Kings.