Karachi Kings pacer Mohammad Amir opened the bowling against Peshawar Zalmi in style to bag the wickets on openers
Mohammad Haris and Babar Azam with deadly in-swingers during their Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2023 match on Wednesday, March 1 at the Pindi Club Ground in Rawalpindi.
The Kings chose to bowl first, and Amir completely left the Pakistan national team skipper Babar Azam reeling. But before it, it was Haris who was caught LBW on the first ball of the match with a delivery that swung back sharply and left the right-handed batter in all sorts of trouble.
Haris chose to take the DRS but to no avail and had to go back for a golden duck.
Amir's next victim was Babar, who tried to flick the ball through the on-side but was hit on the pad instead. The on-field umpire immediately raised his finger and Babar also called for the DRS, but it was of no use, with Zalmi's score reading 2-2 at the end of the first over.
The pacer, who has not played international cricket since 2020, nabbed his third in his second over, getting the wicket of Saim Ayub, who tried to flick Amir over the leg-side boundary, but only managed to get a top edge. Tayyab Tahir then took a simple catch.
Babar's wicket compounded his troubles against left-arm pacers in PSL 2023, with Lahore Qalandars' fast bowler Shaheen Afridi getting him clean-bowled in a previous game. However, the skipper will be pleased with the contribution of his team's middle order, and his bowlers, who were instrumental in getting Peshawar back in the upper reaches of the table.
After the top-order collapse, Tom Kohler-Cadmore (56), Haseebullah Khan (50) and Rovman Powell (64) took their side to a respectable total of 197. After an initial strong start by Kings opener Matthew Wade (53), the other batters failed to understand the task and were bowled out for 173 runs. Azmatullah Omarzai and Aamer Jamal bagged two wickets each, while Mujeeb Ur Rahman took two.
