MULTAN: Peshawar Zalmi recorded their first win of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) season nine in a nail-biting encounter against Multan Sultans on Friday. In their third match of the season, Peshawar Zalmi secured a hard-fought 5-run victory over Multan Sultans at the Multan Cricket Stadium.
The high-stakes match reached its climax in the final over, with Sultans’ power-hitter Iftikhar Ahmed unable to steer his team to victory against Peshawar Zalmi’s Naveen-ul-Haq.
Chasing a target of 180 runs, Multan Sultans faced an early setback when their skipper, Mohammad Rizwan, was dismissed for a duck by Luke Wood in the second over.
Despite Yasir Khan’s efforts to counter Peshawar Zalmi’s bowlers, his innings of 43 runs failed to provide the necessary momentum.
However, Dawid Malan, batting at number four, turned the tide in favor of the Sultans with an aggressive display, scoring a brisk 52 runs off just 25 balls with six boundaries.
Following Malan’s dismissal, Multan Sultans struggled to maintain their wickets.
There was a moment of excitement when Usama Mir hit two consecutive sixes, but his innings was short-lived as he lost his wicket while attempting another big shot.
With hopes pinned on Iftikhar Ahmed, Multan Sultans still had a chance until Naveen-ul-Haq dismissed him in the crucial last over when only six runs were needed from two balls.
After Iftikhar’s departure, Dahani came to the crease but was bowled on the final ball of the match, securing victory for Peshawar Zalmi in the ninth edition of the PSL.
Earlier winning the toss, Zalmi decided to bat first. Batters of Peshawar Zalmi struggling hard to register their first win in the Pakistan Super League after suffering back-to-back defeats against Quetta Gladiators and Karachi Kings. Both the openers Babar Azam and Saim Ayub took a quick start but Shah Nawaz Dhani get rid of Saim in the fourth over on just 7 runs. Saim was replaced by Haseebullah who with Babar Azam consolidated the innings. Both batters contributed 46 runs partnership for the side before Babar Azam was bowled out by Usama Mir on 31. In the 11th over Usama Mir also get rid of Haseebullah. He scored quick 37 runs on 18 balls. AT the stage Zalmi were 85 for 3 in 10.1 over.
After the dismissal of the two set batters Muhammad Haris and Rovman Powell took the innings ahead. However later both were dismissed on 19 and 16 respectively. Zalmi managed to push the scoreboard ahead, but at the same time they were losing wickets that paused their pace to some extent.
In the 19th over Muhammad Ali get rid of Asif Ali on 13 when the total reached 159. In 20 over Peshawar Zalmi scored 179 for the loss of 8 wickets.
From Multan Sultan David Willey, Usama Mir and Muhammad Ali got two wickets each while Shah Nawaz Dhani and Abass Afridi took 1 wicket each.
Teams
Peshawar Zalmi: Saim Ayub, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Haris (wk), Haseeb Ullah Khan, Rovman Powell, Asif Ali, Paul Walter, Luke Wood, Arif Yaqoob, Naveen Ul Haq, Salman Irshad
Multan Sultans: Mohammad Rizwan (c & wk), Dawid Malan, Reeza Hendricks, Yasir Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, David Willey, Usama Mir, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ali, Shahnawaz Dahani
