Harry Brook’s 48-ball hundred flattens Islamabad United

Cricket
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Fakhar Zaman extends form with another fifty as Qalandars hand United 66-run defeat

Lahore Qalandars 197 for 6 (Brook 102*, Fakhar 51, Faheem 3-28) beat Islamabad United 131 for 9 (Dawson 31, Danish 30*, Rashid 2-19, Shaheen 2-28) by 66 runs

Harry Brook’s unbeaten 102 off just 49 balls set up a thumping 66-run win for Lahore Qalandars as they consolidated their second spot on the PSL points table.
Brook reached his hundred off just 48 balls – the second-fastest in the PSL – but what made his knock even more special was the circumstances in which he came out to bat. After opting to bat, Qalandars were reeling at 12 for 3 in the third over as Faheem Ashraf removed Phil Salt and Kamran Ghulam in the second over of the innings before running out Mohammad Hafeez with a direct hit in the next.
Brook then joined hands with Fakhar Zaman and the pair revived the innings by adding 101 off just 63 balls for the fourth wicket. Brook was the aggressor of the two, reaching his half-century off 27 balls. In comparison, Fakhar took 39 balls for his.

Fakhar fell soon after reaching the landmark but Brook kept batting in the same vein. He took Mohammad Wasim for two fours and a six in the 15th over and then smashed Waqas Maqsood for three fours and a six in the 20-run penultimate over of the innings.

United started positively in their chase of 198 and despite Shaheen Shah Afridi sending both their openers back off successive deliveries in the third over, they finished the powerplay at 59 for 2.

It was Rashid Khan who applied brakes on the scoring rate, first by trapping Wasim lbw and then having Azam Khan stumped. Zaman Khan also chipped in with a couple of wickets, and by the end of the 15th over, United were 106 for 6 and way behind the asking rate.

Danish Aziz tried to fight with an unbeaten 30 off 26 balls but the task had become insurmountable. Eventually, United could reach only 131 for 9. They are currently fourth on the points table with eight points from nine games.

Hemant Brar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

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