Dubai. Shahid Afridi-led Peshawar Zalmi team players follow the same style of their captain, who enjoys playing aggressive cricket. From the first ball they went for the kill and trounced Lahore Qalandars by nine wickets on Saturday night.
Restricting Lahore to a 117 for 6, Peshawar reached the target with 24 balls remaining through a 95-run opening partnership between Tamim Iqbal and Mohammad Hafeez. Tamim hit his second successive half-century following his 51 against Islamabad on Friday, to remain unbeaten on 55 off 47 balls with seven boundaries. Hafeez cracked 43 runs of 37 balls with three boundaries and three sixes.
Peshawar pacer Junaid Khan gave a sensational start after his team won the toss and elected to bowl. With the first ball of the match, he took the prize wicket of Chris Gayle by hitting the stumps with a ball that swung into the batsman. One-drop batsman Cameron Delport too followed for a duck after being run-out off a direct hit from Shahid Yousuf at the bowler’s end in the third ball of the first over.
Shaun Tait, who was generating excellent pace off the wicket, had Mohammad Rizwan caught behind by Kamran Akmal for 4. Umar Akmal and a worried skipper Azhar Ali put on 41 runs for the fourth wicket before left-arm spinner Mohammad Asghar had Umar caught behind by Kamran for 21.
Asghar, who was Peshawar’s hero in their first match against Islamabad with three wickets and two catches, also removed Azhar Ali, who edged to Kamran for 31. Five down for 63 in 14.2 overs, it was doubtful whether Lahore would reach the 100-run mark but for Darren Bravo’s run-a-ball 32 and Hammad Azam who remained unbeaten with 18.
In the 19th over, Bravo hit Wahab Riaz to the cover boundary, the next ball he hit a six over deep square-leg and the third ball he again drove him to the cover boundary. He fell to the fifth ball edging Riaz to Kamran while attempting to slice past point for another boundary. It was Kamran’s fourth catch of the innings and the best among all his catches as he dived full length to his right.
Brief scores:
Peshawar Zalmi bt Lahore Qalandars by nine wickets. Lahore 117 for 6 in 20 overs (Azhar Ali 31, Umar Akmal 21, Dwyane Bravo 32, Mohammad Asghar 2 for 11) Peshawar 118 for 1 in 16 overs (Tamim Iqbal 55n.o, Mohammad Hafeez 43) Man of the match: Tamim Iqbal.
