Irfan the hero as Kings ace tense 15-over chase

Karachi Kings clinched a thrilling final-over victory in a dramatic finish at the Gaddafi Stadium against arch-rivals Lahore Qalandars in their PSL 2025 game on Sunday. In a game that finished past midnight after a 90-minute rain delay, Kings, who had been behind in the chase almost throughout, scored the last 48 runs in 16 balls after a clutch onslaught at the death from Irfan Khan. In doing so, they leapfrogged Islamabad United to go up to second on the table, leaving Qalandars vulnerable to yet another round-robin knockout.

Much of the chase was an exercise in improbability, though Kings did all the right things. Needing 168 in 15 overs with one fewer powerplay over thanks to the unexpected rain that descended upon the Lahore evening, David Warner took down the normally miserly Asif Afridi's second over, plundering 20 off it. Significantly, he would end up bowling just one more, a sequence of events that ended up with medium pacer Daryl Mitchell needing to send down the final over.

Tim Seifert took on Shaheen Shah Afridi, too, but with the baseline asking rate over 11, any passage of play where Qalandars could sneak a couple of tight overs in swung the contest wildly in their favour. As a result, despite Kings smashing 52 in the first four, when Qalandars did bowl three that yielded 23, and a few overs later another three which allowed just 22, the required rate ballooned to 16. The task was made even more unlikely by the important wickets the home side picked up; the top five had all been sent on their way, Irfan and Mohammad Nabi the final roadblocks to a certain Qalandars triumph.

And yet, that roadblock proved insurmountable. Irfan began the comeback by going after Qalandars captain Shaheen with three sixes in an over before Nabi helped him bleed a further 20 runs out of Haris Rauf to suddenly bring the equation down to seven in a final over Mitchell had to bowl. Irfan, by now in the zone, lashed the third of those deliveries over long-off for six.

When, nearly five hours earlier, Qalandars had been inserted in what was assumed to be a full game, they begun so forebodingly that when the rain came in the eighth over, Kings would likely have accepted the point a washout would give them. Mohammad Naeem struggled at the start of this tournament, but Qalandars have stuck by him, a faith he has gradually begun to repay. His languid excellence was in delightful evidence towards the tail-end of the powerplay, taking over the role of chief power hitter from Fakhar Zaman. Nabi, the most economical spinner in the tournament, saw 15 come off the fifth over, before Hasan Ali was dispatched for another 22 as Qalandars surged to 69 off six, a wristy flick off the final delivery that flew over midwicket for six bringing up a 22-ball 50.

The end of the fielding restrictions made little impact on Naeem as another 13 were extracted from Nabi's second, but a game-turning moment was around the corner. Aamer Jamal drew Naeem into holing out at long-on with the heavens immediately opening up thereafter. When play did resume after a prolonged delay, Qalandars initially picked up where they left off thanks to Fakhar hitting his stride and a handy cameo from Abdullah Shafique.

But Abbas Afridi and Mir Hamza were dragging Kings back into the contest. The pair picked up three wickets inside seven balls in the 11th and 12th overs, with Shafique, Mitchell and Sam Billings all sent packing. A couple of overs later, Abbas produced another over that jabbed Qalandars twice; this time, Sikandar Raza and Fakhar - having just crossed 50 - were taken out of the contest before the death in a passage of play that saw four more wickets fall in seven balls.

As a consequence, the last five produced a relatively modest 44 compared to what Naeem appeared to have promised the other side of the rain break. And, as Irfan showed them a couple of hours later, failing to cash in at the death can be a deadly error in T20 contests.