Fast bowler Hasan Ali took four wickets while Kieron Pollard smashed four consecutive sixes as Peshawar Zalmi thrashed Multan Sultans by five wickets in their Pakistan Super League (PSL) contest at Sharjah Stadium here on Sunday. Needing a formidable target of 31 in the last three overs, Pollard made the task easy by smashing the last four balls of the 18th over of clueless pacer Mohammad Irfan to guide Peshawar home in 19.4 overs after set a target of 146. Despite Pollard dismissed for 10-ball 25 with four sixes, skipper Darren Sammy kept his cool to take the winning single. Peshawar had lost opener Kamran Akmal for four but Imam-ul-Haq scored a solid 44-ball 52 with five boundaries and a six — for his second fifty in this PSL. He added 68 for the second wicket with Dawid Malan who made 35-ball 38 with five boundaries. But once Imam was dismissed, leg before by Junaid Khan, Peshawar struggled to keep the tempo before Pollard came to their rescue.
Peshawar are now second in the six-team table, having six points (three wins in five matches). Quetta Gladiators are perched top of the table with eight points after four straight wins in as many games. Defending champions Islamabad United are third (six points in five), Lahore Qalandars are fourth with four points in five (two wins and three losses), Multan are fifth (two points from five, with one win and four defeats) while Karachi are sixth (two points from four games).
Earlier, Johnson Charles top-scored with a 34-ball 53 studded with three sixes and four boundaries as Multan were bowled out for 145 in 20 overs after they were sent into bat. Multan were rocked by Hasan’s superb bowling. Hasan struck in the first over for the third time in a row in this year’s PSL. He has the most wickets (24) in the power-plays in all PSL matches. He dismissed in-form James Vince for a duck, the second ball of the innings. Charles steadied the innings with a second wicket stand of 80 with Umar Siddiq (20-ball 20 with two sixes) but Multan lost their last seven wickets for just 27 runs in the last five slog overs.
Shoaib Malik (24-ball 22) and Dan Christian (21-ball 17) added 33 for the fourth wicket while Shahid Afridi (11-ball 14) also got good starts but did not survive Hasan’s fire and wicket taking ability. Hasan dismissed Malik with the first ball of the 18th over, then had Afridi with the third ball and Hammad Azam with the fourth. Hasan now has 15 wickets in the PSL 4, easily the best in this year’s event.
Brief scores:
Multan Sultans 145 all out in 20 overs (J Charles 53; Hasan Ali 4-17) VS
Peshawar Zalmi 146-5 in 19.4 overs (Imam-ul-Haq 52, D Malan 38).
Published in Daily Times, February 25th 2019.