In another pulsating night of cricket in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), Peshawar Zalmi registered a nerve-jangling two-run victory over the Karachi Kings at the National Stadium in Karachi on March 11 (Monday). As a result, Babar Azam's Peshawar surged to the top of the points table and the franchise now has 6 wins in 10 matches played. The match on Monday turned out to be another thriller as the contest went down to the wire and was only decided on the last ball.
Babar Azam leads from the front
Babar Azam continued to ride his scorching form and stroked yet another half-century in the ongoing edition of the PSL. After electing to bat, Babar registered yet another half-century partnership with opening partner Saim Ayub (19 runs off 18 balls) before the latter was dismissed with the team's score at 55/1.
The middle-order batters showed little to no resistance but Babar continued to accumulate runs in an attempt to ensure the team had a defendable score on the board. In the end, the superstar Pakistan batter was dismissed for 51 runs off 46 balls which he scored with the help of 5 fours and a six.
A late cameo from Rovman Powell, who scored 30 runs off 18 balls with the help of three fours, pushed Peshawar's score to 147/6 in 20 overs.
A steady start for the Karachi Kings
Chasing an average target, Karachi Kings openers started cautiously but gave their team a solid platform by stitching a 61-run stand in 53 balls. James Vince scored 21 runs off 27 balls while Tim Seifert scored 41 runs off 30 balls. Shoaib Malik played an average knock in the middle overs, scoring 22 runs off 25 balls and Karachi soon found itself staring at an uphill task.
There was still plenty of firepower available for Karachi as Kieron Pollard was waiting in the ranks. But, the big West Indian failed to perform and was dismissed for just one run off four balls.
Irfan Khan (39 not out off 26 balls) kept his team in the hunt and with Anwar Ali (14 not out off 6 balls) striking two consecutive fours in the last ball, it boosted Karachi's chance of winning the match. With five runs needed from the last two balls, Aamer Jamal bowled two good deliveries and restricted Karachi to 145/5 in 20 overs and helped Peshawar exit the match with a 2-run win.
Naveen-ul-Haq delivered a stifling spell with the ball and bagged two wickets in his four overs, conceding just 22 runs in the process. Jamal, Luke Wood and Ayub bagged a wicket each.
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