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.

Electing to field, United rode on Imad Wasim's early double-strike to rock the Qalandars, with skipper Shadab Khan taking a stunning leaping catch at mid-off to dismiss Abdullah Shafique.

The bowlers kept things tight, with Chris Green cleaning up Haseebullah Khan and Shadab dismissing Rubin Hermann. A 31-run partnership between Sikandar Raza (25) and Asif Ali (15) offered some resistance, but a collapse followed as the Qalandars crashed from 72/4 to 100 all out.

Green took three wickets, Shadab chipped in with two, and seamer Richard Gleeson cleaned up the tail as the Qalandars were bowled out in the 19th over.

In response, Islamabad lost Sameer Minhas early, but Devon Conway and Mohammad Faiq capitalized on the Powerplay, scoring 51 runs. Boundaries came regularly before Conway tore into Raza in a 22-run tenth over, raising his maiden PSL half-century.

The scores were leveled at the halfway mark, and Faiq sealed the deal with a boundary to hand Islamabad their third consecutive win.

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.