Minhas stars in Islamabad United's facile win

Sameer Minhas made it two fifties in two games as Islamabad United brushed aside Rawalpindiz by seven wickets in Lahore, chasing 157 with ease and 34 balls to spare. The win lifted United to second on the table.

Rawalpindiz, sent in to bat, lost both openers early. Richard Gleeson struck twice in the Powerplay, removing Yasir Khan and Mohammad Rizwan. Kamran Ghulam steadied things with a 39-ball 50, adding a 51-run stand with Daryl Mitchell but once the latter was out, the side lost three wickets for 20 runs, undoing much of the earlier hard work.

Dian Forrester's late surge, 44 not out off 19, featuring 2 fours and 4 sixes, pushed the total to 156/7 which felt under par on a decent track.

Islamabad's chase was built around Minhas's 70 off 36. He reached his fifty in 25 balls and dominated a 58-run opening stand as Devon Conway struggled at the other end. By the time Sameer fell in the ninth over, the asking rate had dropped to a run a ball and the result felt inevitable.

Haider Ali (26* off 16) and Mark Chapman (24* off 7) finished it off quickly, adding 45 runs in just 17 balls to close out the game in 14.2 overs.

Brief scores: Rawalpindiz 156/7 in 20 overs (Kamran Ghulam 50, Dian Forrester 44*; Richard Gleeson 2-21, Faheem Ashraf 2-22, Salman Irshad 2-52) lost to Islamabad United 157/3 in 14.2 overs (Sameer Minhas 70, Haider Ali 26*, Mark Chapman 24*) by 7 wickets.