Sharjah: Though it was Peshawar Zalmi’s Shahid Afridi that won the hearts with his fighting knock of 54 runs, the architect of Karachi Kings victory was Shoaib Malek, who cracked an unbeaten 51 and also took the prize wicket of Eoin Morgan in Karachi’s nine-run win over Peshawar in the Pakistan Super League match on Sunday night.
Thirty-five-year-old Malek is another Pakistan cricketer who is getting better with age.
After bagging the man of the match award, he said: “This is the best I have batted in the PSL. I had decided I would take my chances and it paid off. I am a batsman who takes his time. I took my time and ended well.”
Malek hit three sixes and four boundaries in his 27-ball knock.
“The six I hit against Wahab, I really enjoyed,” he said, adding, “We were around 110 when I when I went into bat. Against a good batting side, you need 170-plus — that too on a good pitch. I knew I had to take my chances and I was successful.”
Malek who is a thinking cricketer and is former captain of Karachi Kings and Pakistan said: “Once I started seeing the ball well, I started hitting it well as well. Sangakkara and Babar Azam had set the tone well. Hitting the six against Wahab was good as we all know what he is capable of. Does not mean that I am criticising him, he is a very good friend of mine.”
Meanwhile, Karachi skipper Kumar Sangakkara is a happy man with his team’s second successive victory.
He hailed his 21-year-old leg spinner Usama Mir for rising to the challenge at the closing stages of the match to take wickets of Afridi and Hasan Ali in the last over.
“The kid was outstanding. He raised his hand and wanted to bowl. His turn and bounce helped. Bringing a leg-spinner was the only choice I had, but the young leg spinner was outstanding.”
Sangakkara felt his team could have made a bigger score.
“We slowed down a bit between 7th to 10th over as Babar Azam and myself got out. Malek batted exceptionally well. So did Bopara.”
Sangakarra thanked Chris Gayle for the two catches of Sammy and Afridi. “The two catches that Chris took changed the game. One off the chest [Sammy shot] and the one in the last over turned the game for us. A guy like Gayle is always a stroke away. All in all a wonderful game of cricket.”
Sammy though disappointed said: “We keep on providing exciting matches, but we keep losing matches. I think they scored 10 runs too many from the position we got them in. Exciting match, but disappointed to end up on the losing side.”
Sammy too praised Usama’s accurate leg spin.
“We had the belief till the last over that it could be done. T20 is all about momentum, the legs spinner (Usama) did it for them today. For us it’s about more guys putting their hands up. We’re not out of the competition, we have two games coming up and well regroup and try to come back stronger.”
Brief scores:
Karachi Kings bt Peshawar Zalmi by 9 runs. Karachi Kings 174 for 4 in 20 overs (Babar Azam 46, Kumar Sangakkara 28, Shoaib Malek 51 n.o, Ravi Bopara 30, Iftikhar Ahmad 2 for 8) Peshwar Zalmi 165 in 19.5 overs (Darren Sammy 34, Shahid Afridi 54, Sohail Khan 3 for 28, Usman Khan 3 for 32, Usama Mir 2 for 28). Man of the match: Shoaib Malek
