Spinners, Conway lead Islamabad's rout of Qalandars
A clinical all-round performance by Islamabad United saw them hammer Lahore Qalandars by nine wickets in their PSL 2026 clash at Karachi's National Stadium on Thursday (April 9).
Electing to field upon winning the toss, United rode on Imad Wasim's early double-strike to rock the Qalandars, with skipper Shadab Khan playing his part with a stunning leaping catch at mid-off to dismiss Abdullah Shafique.
The bowlers continued to keep things tight, following which Chris Green cleaned up Haseebullah Khan and Shadab dismissed Rubin Hermann. A 31-run partnership between Sikandar Raza (25) and Asif Ali (15) seemed to restore some balance to the contest. However, an alarming collapse followed as the Qalandars crashed from 72/4 to 100 all out.
Green nabbed three wickets while Shadab chipped in with two of his own. Seamer Richard Gleeson then completed the clean-up job of the tail as the Qalandars were bowled out halfway through the 19th over.
In response, Islamabad lost the in-form Sameer Minhas early but that was the only blip in an otherwise smooth chase. Devon Conway and Mohammad Faiq made the most of the Powerplay, with 51 runs coming in that phase and it was just a matter of time before the duo would get the job done.
The boundaries came at regular intervals before Conway tore into Raza in a 22-run tenth over, raising his maiden PSL half-century along the way. The scores were leveled at the halfway mark, following which Faiq sealed the deal with a boundary to hand Islamabad their third win on the bounce.
Brief Scores: Lahore Qalandars 100 in 18.3 overs (Sikandar Raza 25; Chris Green 3-19, Imad Wasim 2-13, Shadab Khan 2-18) lost to Islamabad United 104/1 in 10.2 overs (Devon Conway 59*, Mohammad Faiq 34*; Shaheen Afridi 1-22) by 9 wickets.
