Daily Times

Misbahul Haq and Darren Sammy proved age is just a number when they helped Peshawar Zalmi pull off a thrilling four wickets victory over Lahore Qalandars in their Pakistan Super League match at Sheikh Zayed Stadium here on Tuesday. Misbah cracked a fighting and undefeated 55-ball 59 studded with four boundaries and two sixes while Sammy notched a 36-ball 46 with four boundaries and a six as the dup lifted Peshawar from a precarious 20-5 to help chase down a modest 125-run target in 19.5 overs. The hard fought win — with heroes having a combined age of 79 (Misbah 44, Sammy 35) – steered Peshawar to play-offs with 12 points in nine matches, winning six and losing three.

Misbah added a match winning 100 runs for the sixth wicket with Sammy to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Shaheen Afridi had wrecked Peshawar’s top order in his first spell of 2-1-6-3 with wickets of Imamul Haq (four), Umar Amin and Liam Dawson (both nought off successive deliveries) to leave them tottering at 12-4. Rahat Ali had dismissed Kamran Akmal for three to open the gates. David Wiese made it 20-5 with the wicket of Kieron Pollard, bowled for a poor ten-ball two. But Misbah, playing his only second match after injuring his hamstring after team’s opening match, steadied the innings before lashing big strokes in the final four overs when Peshawar needed 34 runs for victory.

Earlier, Lahore never looked on course for a big total and it was only Haris Sohail (33-ball 43 with four boundaries and a six), David Wiese (16-ball 26 with two sixes and as many fours) and Umair Masood (28-ball 22 with two boundaries) that helped Lahore to a lackluster 124-7 after they were sent into bat. “It was tough to come back after injury but this is the time when you back yourself and in tough situations,” said Misbah. “We (Sammy and I) spoke about batting until the last over and knew that if we could do that we will be able to take the team close to the target and it came out like that.”

The win gives Peshawar 12 points in nine matches and a top position in the points table with a better net run-rate over Quetta Gladiators. Lahore are now in the relegation zone with fifth, having scored just six points in eight games. They have lost five matches and won three out of eight. Islamabad are third with eight points in eight matches (four wins and four losses) while Karachi are fourth with eight points (four wins and four losses in eight) Multan Sultans are sixth with just four points in nine games (seven defeats and two wins).

Brief scores:

Peshawar Zalmi beat Lahore Qalandars by four wickets in PSL.

Lahore Qalandars 124-7 in 20 overs (Haris Sohail 43; T Mills 3-29, Sameen Gul 2-17) VS Peshawar Zalmi 125-6 in 19.5 overs (Misbahul Haq 59 not out, D Sammy 46; Shaheen Shah Afridi 3-17).

Published in Daily Times, March 6^th 2019.