Sans Babar Azam, Peshawar Zalmi finally ended the losing streak and returned to winning ways as they got the better of Shadab Khan's Islamabad United by 13 runs in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) match at the Pindi Club Ground in Rawalpindi on Sunday (March 12). With this victory for Zalmi have set up a rematch against United in the eliminator as the playoff phase is slated to start from next week.
After missing the regular skipper Babar due to illness, Peshawar Zalmi rode on Mohammad Haris' impressive 79 off 39 to post 179/8 on the board. In reply Islamabad United ran out of steam just before the finishing line and were bundled out for 166. Had Islamabad chased down their total of 180, they would have climbed ahead of Multan Sultans and into second place, where they would have taken on Lahore Qalandars in the qualifier on Wednesday.
Tom Kohler-Cadmore was a surprise choice of captain in Babar's absence and he saw his side recover from losing Saim Ayub in the first over without scoring, before Bhanuka Rajapaksa – promoted to No.3 – shared a 115-run stand in just 9.4 overs with Haris. Sri Lankan Rajapaksa eventually holed out on the slog-sweep off Shadab Khan for 41, before Kohler-Cadmore departed for a quickfire 12 and Haris mishit a Shadab full toss to long-off as the earlier momentum was lost and Peshawar saw their hopes of another 240-plus total reined in.
Thereafter, no one below the top four struck at better than a run-a-ball, with Hasan Ali and Mohammad Wasim excellent towards the death.
But Islamabad's reply never got going until they were eight wickets down and Faheem Ashraf, who smashed 38 off just 13 balls, made a late comeback on his own. The top three – Hassan Nawaz (0), Alex Hales (15) and Sohaib Maqsood (15) all fell in the powerplay, with Colin Munro the third member of the top four to depart for 15.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (33) offered some staying power, keeping Islamabad in touch through the middle overs, but he watched Shadab slap Sufiyan Muqeem's googly to cover for 25 and then Gurbaz himself slapped Jimmy Neesham to cover. Muqeem also accounted for Asif Ali and Hasan Ali in the same over, before Ashraf launched his assault. But with four balls remaining and 14 still needed, Khurram Shahzad produced the perfect yorker to send him on his way and dash Islamabad's hopes, setting up another encounter between the sides on Thursday.
The Zalmi, earlier, became the only team to score 240 runs in two back-to-back innings in T20Is. They scored 240 and 242 against Quetta Gladiators and Multan Sultans respectively. But both times, they ended up losing the matches.
After the Sultans beat the Gladiators by nine runs, Peshawar became the fourth team after the Sultans, United and Lahore Qalandars to advance to the playoffs.
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