Pollard fifty sets up thrilling win for Kings

(CMC) – Kieron Pollard blasted his 60th half-century of a storied Twenty20 career as his Karachi Kings beat Shai Hope’s Lahore Qalanders by two wickets off the last ball in a thrilling contest yesterday.

In pursuit of 176 at Gaddafi Stadium, the Kings got a 33-ball 58 from Pollard, while veteran righthander Shoaib Malik struck 39 from 32 balls.

However, the Kings still found themselves requiring 11 runs at the start of the final over, with a six off the first ball from left-arm spinner Ahsan Hafeez further simplifying the equation.

With one run needed off the last ball, Mir Hamza edged the third man for four to give the Kings their second win in three matches and move them third in the Pakistan Super League standings.

Sent in earlier, the Qalanders tallied 175 for six off their 20 overs, with opener Sahibzada Farhan topscoring with 72 off 45 balls and South Africans Rassie van der Dussen and George Linde both lashing 26 apiece.

Hope, the West Indies one-day skipper, carved out 21 off 13 balls. Sahibzada put on 36 for the second wicket with van der Dussen to pull the innings around from six for one in the third over, and then added a further 36 for the fourth wicket with Jahandad Khan (12) after another glitch left Qalanders on 54 for three in the 10th.

When another three wickets went down for 31 runs, Sahibzada again nursed the innings back to health in a 54-run, unbroken seventh wicket stand with Linde.

In reply, Kings slumped to 44 for four at the end of the sixth before the 36-year-old Pollard arrived to blast a four and five sixes in a 95-run, fifth wicket partnership with Shoaib, which rescued the run chase.

He reached his landmark off 29 deliveries before holding out to deep cover in the 16th over, with the Kings needing 37 runs from 25 balls.