HBL PSL 2024
\n RAWALPINDI
\nThe cro\u00adwds had thronged in in numbers to the Pindi Cric\u00adket Stadium on Friday night. As their chants suggested, the love for Babar Azam had drawn them to the venue. \u201cBabar, Babar\u201d reverberated round the roofless arena and, by far the most adored cricketer in Pakistan and Peshawar Zalmi\u2019s captain, did not disappoint.
\nBabar\u2019s act was of class, first with the bat and then with his captaincy \u2014 assi\u00adsted by coaches Darren Sam\u00admy and Umar Gul on the sidelines \u2014 as Zalmi thrashed Quetta Gladiators by 76 runs in the HBL Paki\u00adstan Super League match.
\nThe former Pakistan skipper, like he mostly does, gave Zalmi a start with the bat that would go on to negate Quetta spinner Akeal Hosein\u2019s hat-trick.
\nDefending a 196-8, which included his 53 off 29 balls, Babar introduced Saim Ayub\u2019s so-called \u201cpart-time\u201d off-spin to break Quetta\u2019s back at a point when it turned the game around in Zalmi\u2019s favour till the end of it.
\nThe win took Zalmi to second in the PSL league stage standings and booked their place in the playoffs, as they became to make the knockout stages in all the nine seasons of the franchise tournament. Quetta, meanwhile, fell to the fourth place.
\nQuetta approached the target with aggression from the word go, and their powerplay was about exquisite hitting by openers Jason Roy and Saud Shakeel \u2014 his two sixes off pacer Naveen-ul-Haq standing out \u2014 but both were out before the end of the fielding restrictions, with the scorecard reading 56-2.
\nThe openers\u2019 departure put a stop to the flow of runs for Quetta and Babar\u2019s decision to call up Saim to bowl his off-spin at that point when left-handed Rilee Rossouw was on the crease along with Khawaja Nafay turned out to be a brilliant one.
\nRossouw went after a flighted delivery by Saim, attempting to clear midwicket, only for the ball to find Aamer Jamal\u2019s safe hands. Seeing his partner and captain fall at the other end, Nafay panicked too and ended up finding the fielder on the leg-side two balls later.
\nAt the halfway stage, Quetta were reeling at 76-4.
\nDebutant Laurie Evans was next to go thanks to s a running catch by Rovman Powell at long-on off Aamer. Hosein and Omair bin Yousuf followed in quick successions, pacers Luke Wood and Naveen-ul-Haq taking the wickets, effectively wrapping up the proceedings.
\nPut into bat by Quetta after losing the toss, Zalmi went off to a flying start thanks to their in-form openers in Babar and Saim.
\nBoth were absolutely destructive throughout their stay on the crease. Babar, however, stayed for longer than Saim, going on to register yet another PSL half-century.
\nBut it was only Babar and Saim \u2014 the sensational left-hander plundering the Quetta bowlers for a 12-ball 30 \u2014 who kept Zalmi on the top before Quetta took over, with Hosein\u2019s hat-trick saving the side from conceding an even bigger total.
\nA chip over the in-field for four followed by a flick of the wrist for six off pacer Sohail Khan saw Babar and Zalmi get going before Saim opened his arms with a massive hit against Mohammad Amir over midwicket for six and was given a second life when Roy dropped him at mid-off in the third over, leaving Amir frustrated.
\nSaim celebrated the reprieve with two powerful sixes off Sohail in the next over, only to become the pacer and Quetta\u2019s first wicket right after.
\nBabar, however, kept go\u00ading on, showing his class with three effortless stro\u00adkes for boundaries in the fifth over off Mohammad Hasn\u00adain, boosting Zalmi to 70-1.
\nQuetta lost two quick wickets in Mohammad Haris\u2019 and Haseebullah Khan before Zalmi posted 103-3 at the halfway stage.
\nThe incoming Tom Kohler-Cadmore counterpunched with two fours off Hasnain\u2019s pace and took on spinner Abrar Ahmed for a boundary and a huge hit for six. Babar ramped the spinner for four more and flicked gorgeously for another boundary to bring up his fifty in 29 balls.
\nBut that was all for the former Pakistan captain, who was trapped lbw by Hosein on the very next ball that he faced.
\nHosein gave away only five runs in that over and the pressure got to Kohler-Cadmore \u2014 who was growing in confidence at that point with 30 off 19 against his name \u2014 as the Englishman fell to Hasnain.
\nHosein\u2019s return to bowl the 16th over brought with it a nightmare. The Guyanese forced a nick off Aamer\u2019s outside edge for wicket-keeper Evans to grab a tricky catch. Mehran Mumtaz followed Aamer as he played Hosein onto his stumps before Wood edged one to Rossouw in the slips. The hat-trick left Zalmi in tatters with eight wickets down for 157 before Rovman Powell\u2019s 28 off 25 balls took Zalmi to total which was still more than enough for them.<\/p>\n
POINTS TABLE
\nTEAMS M W L T N\/R P NRR
\nMultan Sultans 8 6 2 0 0 12 0.967
\nPeshawar Zalmi 9 5 3 0 1 11 0.148
\nIslamabad United 9 4 4 0 1 9 0.221
\nQuetta Gladiators 8 4 3 0 1 9 -0.635
\nKarachi Kings 8 3 5 0 0 6 -0.241
\nLahore Qalandars 8 1 6 0 1 3 -0.682<\/p>\n
SCOREBOARD
\nPESHAWAR ZALMI:
\nBatters & modes of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR
\nSaim Ayub c Abrar b Sohail 30 12 1 3 250.00
\nBabar Azam lbw b Hosein 53 30 9 1 176.66
\nMohammad Haris run out (Rossouw) 20 13 1 1 153.84
\nHaseebullah Khan b Abrar 6 6 1 0 100.00
\nTom Kohler-Cadmore c Saud b Hasnain 33 19 4 1 173.68
\nRovman Powell not out 28 25 4 0 112.00
\nAamer Jamal c Evans b Hosein 5 4 1 0 125.00
\nMehran Mumtaz b Hosein 0 1 0 0 0.00
\nLuke Wood c Rossouw b Hosein 0 1 0 0 0.00
\nNaveen-ul-Haq not out 10 9 0 1 111.11
\nEXTRAS (B-4, W-7) 11
\nTOTAL (for eight wickets, 20 overs) 196
\nDID NOT BAT: Khurram Shahzad
\nFALL OF WICKETS: 1-46 (Saim), 2-93 (Haris), 3-100 (Haseebullah), 4-136 (Babar), 5-147 (Kohler-Cadmore), 6-157 (Aamer), 7-157 (Mehran), 8-157 (Wood)
\nBOWLING: Amir 4-0-35-0 (4w), Sohail 4-0-48-1 (1w), Hasnain 4-0-52-1 (2w), Abrar 4-0-34-1, Hosein 4-0-23-4<\/p>\n
QUETTA GLADIATORS:
\nBatters & modes of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR
\nJason Roy c Haseebullah b Wood 16 16 2 0 100.00
\nSaud Shakeel c Khurram b Mehran 24 12 2 2 200.00
\nRilee Rossouw c Haris b Saim 8 11 1 0 72.72
\nKhawaja Nafay c Haris b Saim 5 7 0 0 71.42
\nOmair bin Yousuf c Aamer b Naveen 10 13 1 0 76.92
\nLaurie Evans c Powell b Aamer 12 13 2 0 92.30
\nAkeal Hosein c Haris b Wood 14 14 2 0 100.00
\nSohail Khan c Haseebullah b Khurram 7 8 1 0 87.50
\nMohammad Amir c Saim b Mehran 13 8 3 0 162.50
\nMohammad Hasnain not out 2 3 0 0 66.66
\nAbrar Ahmed c Babar b Khurram 0 2 0 0 0.00<\/p>\n
EXTRAS (LB-2, W-7) 9
\nTOTAL (all out, 17.5 overs) 120
\nFALL OF WICKETS: 1-46 (Saud), 2-53 (Roy), 3-60 (Rossouw), 4-61 (Nafay), 5-76 (Evans), 6-97 (Hosein), 7-97 (Omair), 8-114 (Amir), 9-120 (Sohail)
\nBOWLING: Saim 3-0-20-2 (1w), Wood 3-0-21-2 (1w), Khurram 2.5-0-15-2, Naveen 2-0-25-1, Mehran 4-0-22-2, Aamer 3-0-15-1 (1w)
\nRESULT: Peshawar Zalmi won by 76 runs.
\nPLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Saim Ayub<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
HBL PSL 2024 RAWALPINDI The cro\u00adwds had thronged in in numbers to the Pindi Cric\u00adket Stadium on Friday night. As their chants suggested, the love for Babar Azam had drawn them to the venue. \u201cBabar, Babar\u201d reverberated round the roofless arena and, by far the most adored cricketer in Pakistan and Peshawar Zalmi\u2019s captain, did […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392703,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-392681","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n