Islamabad United fell short of victory by eight runs as Lahore Qalandars’ emerging player Zaman Khan kept the two-time champion to just three runs while they needed 12 to win in the final over of their Pakistan Super Leauge group match at the National Stadium, Karachi.

Batting first, Lahore had another whirlwind start with openers Fakhar Zaman, with 38 off 27 deliveries, and Abdullah Shafiq, 44 off 24 balls, putting on 83 in 7.2 overs.

Captain Shadab Khan applied the brakes, accounting for both openers, returning with impressive figures of 4-20 from his quota of overs.

Left-arm pacer Waqas Masood, with 4-35, chipped in with middle and later order wickets to further restrict Lahore towards the end despite cameos by international players David Weise and Harry Brook.

Chasing 175 for victory, Islamabad had a testy start with Lahore captain Shaheen Afridi and young pacer Zaman asking questions of the British opening duo of Alex Hales and Paul Stirling.

Their dismissal brought in-form Colin Munro and Shadab to the crease, who continued their rich form by putting together a partnership of 100 runs in a little over 10 overs.

A googly from Afghanistan’s ace spinner Rashid Khan accounted for Shadab in the 15th over with Munro following his captain into the pavilion in the next over.

Big-hitters Azam Khan and Asif Ali struggled to tee off, even though it was anybody’s game with twelve needed of the last over.

Zaman, who was awarded the player of the match for his spectacular final over, kept Islamabad to three runs while also taking the wicket of Asif Ali.

For Lahore, Haris Rauf went for 41 runs for his 2 wickets, while Shaheen and Rashid took a wicket apiece while giving away 24 and 21 runs in their quota of four overs respectively.