At the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Thursday, Peshawar Zalmi defeated Islamabad United by 12 runs in the first Eliminator of the present Pakistan Super League (PSL) season eight. Islamabad was kept to 171-6 in 20 overs while attempting to chase down a target of 184 runs.
In the same location tomorrow, Peshawar Zalmi under the direction of Babar Azam will compete in Eliminator 2 against Lahore Qalandars on Friday.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz was sent back to the pavilion after reaching 10 runs, giving Peshawar an early wicket during the run chase led to Azmatullah Omarzai.
However Alex Hales and Sohaib Maqsood smashed the opponents with some hard hitting. They combined for a second wicket score of 115 runs, giving their team the advantage.
Aamer Jamal, who clean bowled Sohaib Maqsood, finally broke the century partnership after the right-hander had amassed 60 runs in 48 balls, but not before.
Peshawar didn’t look back after Maqsood left and quickly took control of the game with some smart bowling and consistent wickets.
Without making a substantial contribution, Azam Khan (2) also returned to the pavilion when Salman Irshad overcame him for speed.
Soon after, Hales followed as Jamal hit a yorker to destroy the English batter’s stumps. The right-hander scored 57 runs in 37 balls with nine boundaries.
Faheem Ashraf was run out when Jamal hit him directly after he fell while attempting to return to the crease.
Shadab, the captain, scored an unbeaten 26 runs in 12 balls, but that was unable to take his team to victory. Irshad, who had stats of 2-18 in four overs, was the bowler of selection for Peshawar. Peshawar had been limited earlier to 183-8 in 20 overs.
Babar Azam and Saim Ayub, Peshawar’s openers, put together 60 runs in just 4.4 overs, giving their team an explosive start.
Pacer Mohammad Wasim Jr. gave Islamabad a much-needed breakthrough after Ayub, who scored 23 runs in 16 balls, missed the ball a pull shot and was caught at mid-on by Faheem Ashraf.
Babar Azam hit 64 runs in 39 balls with the help of 10 fours and appeared to be in excellent form.
During his outstanding effort, the Zalmi captain also set a new T20 cricket record for fastest player to reach 9,000 runs. Azam only needed 35 runs prior to today’s game to reach the milestone, which he completed with ease due to some outstanding shots.
With a quick cameo of 34 in 17 balls in the middle overs, Mohammad Haris also gave the innings a boost. He hit two sixes and three fours.
It appeared that Peshawar would easily score a total in excess of 200 after a solid start. In the death overs, Islamabad made a powerful comeback to make sure that wasn’t the case. In the final five overs, Peshawar could only manage 35 runs while losing four wickets.
Shadab Khan had two wickets, including the highly desirable Babar Azam, but he also allowed 40 runs to be scored in his four overs.
Multan Sultans overcame Lahore Qalandars in yesterday’s qualifier to secure their place in the PSL 8 final game. But, in the second Eliminator, the defending champions will have another opportunity to advance to the championship game.
