Ronchi's blitz sinks Lahore Qalandars

Duminy was promoted to the top and he along with the in-form Luke Ronchi got their team off to a flying start. © Getty

It was a stroll in the park for Islamabad United who hunted down Lahore Qalandars' 163 in 17.4 overs in Dubai on Thursday (March 8). The six-wicket win takes Islamabad to the second spot in the Pakistan Super League points table. Lahore are still winless this season after six matches.

Put into bat first, the openers got Qalandars off to a brisk start scoring 49 in the powerplay. JP Duminy removed the dangerous Fakhar Zaman, thereby breaking the 56-run opening stand. Anton Devcich, his partner, continued playing his shots and brought up his fifty in 27 balls. But he couldn't up the ante after reaching the milestone.

Qalandars then lost their way in the middle overs - scoring just 22 runs and losing 3 wickets. At the end of 17 overs, with the score reading 123 for 4, skipper Brendon McCullum decided to press the accelerator pedal. The New Zealand veteran smashed three sixes and two fours in his 12-ball 33 cameo, which helped Lahore post a decent total on the board. For United, Faheem Ashraf was the pick of the bowlers, who returned 3 for 32.

Duminy was promoted to the top and he along with the in-form Luke Ronchi got their team off to a flying start. The 47-run partnership was broken in the sixth over by Sunil Narine. However, Ronchi was unperturbed. The New Zealander, who bagged the Man of the Match award in his previous outing, continued to bat aggressively. He notched up his half-ton in just 22 balls - the joint fastest fifty in this edition of the PSL.

In Shadab Khan, who was advanced to number three, Ronchi found the perfect partner. The duo punished the Lahore bowlers and were involved in an 87-run enthralling partnership off just 44 balls, and took the game away from their opponents. Narine picked two more wickets later, including that of Ronchi, but it was too late. The Misbah-led side chased down the total with 14 balls to spare and recorded their third straight win. 

Brief Scores: Lahore Qalandars 163/8 in 20 overs (Anton Devcich 62, Brendon McCullum 33*; Faheem Ashraf 3/32) lost to Islamabad United 164/4 in 17.4 overs(Luke Ronchi 77, Shadab Khan 32; Sunil Narine 3-28) by 6 wickets.