He scored 22 runs off just seven balls to win the PSL 2025 title for Lahore Qalandars.
Lahore Qalandars defeated the Quetta Gladiators by six wickets in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) final last night. This was their third victory after winning back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023. With this win, the Qalandars have equalled Islamabad United to become the most successful franchise in the tournament’s history. However, the title win wouldn’t have been possible without an extraordinary dedication from Sikandar Raza.
Former Punjab Kings all-rounder Sikandar Raza has had a dream run during the past three days. The 39-year-old featured in the one-off Test match between England and Zimbabwe two days ago. He flew to Pakistan after the game to participate in the PSL final for his franchise, Lahore Qalandars, and played an impactful knock to win them the title.
“Bowled 25 overs the day before yesterday, batted for 20-odd overs yesterday, had dinner in Birmingham, breakfast in Dubai, drove to Abu Dhabi for lunch, took a flight and had dinner in Pakistan,” said Raza.
Previously, the Qalandars decided to play Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan as Raza didn’t make it to the ground in time. However, Raza arrived at the airport just 10 minutes before the toss, and they named him in the playing XI.
Notably, the Zimbabwe player didn’t have a good outing in the PSL 2025 final with the ball. He conceded 43 runs in his four-over quota at an expensive economy of 10.75 and scalped one wicket.
ALSO READ:
Quetta Gladiators opted to bat first after winning the toss at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. Crucial contributions from Rilee Rossouw, Hasan Nawaz, Dinesh Chandimal, and Faheem Ashraf helped them post 201/9 on the scoreboard.
In the second innings, opener Mohammad Naeem and No.3 batter Abdullah Shafique provided a fiery start to the Qalandars with knocks of 27-ball-46 and 28-ball-41, respectively. Later, the Sri Lankan batter Kusal Perera played a crucial match-winning knock of 62 runs off 31 deliveries at a blazing strike rate of 200.
Raza finished the match with his 22-run cameo off just seven balls. He hit the winning runs for the Qalandars with just one ball remaining.
However, the 2019 season champion Gladiators missed out on winning their second PSL title. Earlier, they had also reached the summit clash consecutively in 2016 and 2017 but failed to get their hands on the elusive trophy.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram, and YouTube.
