Daily Times

DUBAI: Peshawar Zalmi defeated Lahore Qalandars by 17 runs in the 16th fixture of the Pakistan Super League at the Dubai International Stadium here Friday. Despite late heroics by Sohail Tanvir, the earlier collapse of the batting order proved to be the undoing for Lahore while chasing the victory target of 167. Tanvir hammered two sixes and just as many fours for a total contribution of 36 runs off 29 balls. Lahore continued their downward trend towards the tail-end of their innings and lost eight wickets while scoring 130 by the 18th over. Tail-enders from Lahore stood their ground and made the best of the situation. Starting with Sunil Narine, who made 21, the other batsmen – Aamer Yamin (25) and Yasir Shah (22) – made scores in the 20s. Lahore faltered under the bowling blitz unleashed by Peshawar and lost six wickets in as many overs in their match. The openers for Qalandars contributed 38 runs between them, but the four batsmen who followed made a disappointing addition of just five runs. The middle-order for Lahore displayed a severe lack of understanding for Peshawar’s bowling and paid the price. Umar Akmal made one and was again caught leg before. Earlier, Peshawar’s Shahid Afridi made a poor showing once again after he was run out with Kamran Akmal remaining the highest scorer and Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan scoring the second highest at 30. Peshawar recovered from their sluggish start after losing Tamim Iqbal. Akmal played a dazzling knock of 58 off 40 balls which played a vital role in keeping the scoreboard ticking.