Bopara's 71*, six-for stuns Lahore Qalandars

Ravi Bopara's 2 for 31 and 33-ball 67 had ended in vain against Peshawar Zalmi on Thursday evening, but he lifted his game to a new plane against Lahore Qalandars. The allrounder followed an unbeaten 71 off 43 balls with figures of 6 for 16, the joint ninth-best bowling analysis in the history of T20s, to help Karachi Kings stun Lahore in Sharjah. Bopara's all-round show put him on top of the PSL runs as well as wickets charts in addition to securing Karachi's second win. Lahore, meanwhile, are rooted to the bottom of the table with only a solitary win in five matches.

Lahore, though, were on course to gun down 179, after a rapid start from Cameron Delport and Chris Gayle, who was back after recovering from flu. They knocked off 90 runs off the target in 10 overs. Delport then launched the next ball over Usama Mir's head for a six, raising his half-century off 35 balls. Four balls later, Delport was stumped.

Enter Bopara. He struck with his first ball, having a sedate Gayle caught behind for 37 off 28 balls. Bopara also sent back Dwayne Bravo for a duck in the same over. Bopara did not strike in his second over, but took three wickets in four balls in his third over to kill the chase. By then, Lahore had slumped to 122 for 6. Bopara finished off by accounting for Umar Akmal, as Lahore were kept to 151 for 8, from 98 for 0.

Bopara was the star with the bat as well, providing the late thrust with his 24th and second successive fifty, which included three fours and four sixes. Bopara's blows built Karachi's momentum after Zohaib Khan and Zafar Gohar undermined a good start. Bopara and Mushfiqur Rahim, playing his first PSL match, however, muscled 33 off the last two overs to lead their side to 178, which eventually proved 27 too many for Lahore.