Daily Times

Kieron Pollard hammered a 27-ball half century as Peshawar Zalmi overwhelmed Multan Sultans by seven wickets in their Pakistan Super League match at Dubai International Stadium here on Thursday. The hard hitting Trinidadian stole the show during his undefeated knock of 52 laced with five sixes and a single boundary to help Peshawar overhaul a daunting 173-run target set up by Multan. Pollard smashed three sixes off Daniel Christian in the 18th over while Umar Amin smacked the second ball of the final over for a four to finish with a 37-ball 54 not out with seven boundaries. The duo added 91 for the unbroken fourth wicket stand that came off just 54 balls.

The win lifted Peshawar to the top of the table (eight points from six games, winning four and losing two with a net run-rate of 0.97). Islamabad United are second with four wins, three losses in seven matches but have a better net run-rate than Quetta, who also have eight points from six games — two defeats and four wins. Lahore Qalandars are fourth (three wins and three losses in six games), Multan are fifth (two wins and five losses in seven games) while Karachi Kings are sixth and last with four points from six games, four losses and two wins.

After the match, Pollard said he knew one over could change the match. “I missed a couple of balls initially and the asking rate was getting tighter but I knew that one over can make it easy,” said Pollard. Sammy said his bowlers, Pollard and Amin made the win possible. Multan captain Shoaib Malik admitted Pollard snatched the win for Peshawar. “Pollard is someone who can take away the game from you and you don’t give him chances like this, but this happens in cricket,” said Malik. “We know we have to win the remaining matches to stay in the hunt.”

Earlier, Johnson Charles top-scored with a 31-ball 57 with eight boundaries and a six to post a challenging 172-5 after Multan were put into bat by Peshawar skipper Darren Sammy. Charles and James Vince, who made 38-ball 41, added brilliant 76-run for second wicket. Charles smashed four consecutive boundaries off Wahab Riaz to complete his half century off just 29 balls. He was finally bowled by left-arm spinner Liam Dawson in the 13th over. Malik made 21-ball 28 with two boundaries and a six but Shahid Afridi failed to make an impact in the final overs, falling to a run out dismissal for just one.

Brief scores:

Multan Sultans 172-5 in 20 overs (J Charles 57, J Vince 41) VS Peshawar Zalmi 176-3 in 19.2 overs (Umar Ami 54 not out, K Pollard 52 not out)

Published in Daily Times, March 1^st 2019.