Sharjah March 15: An outstanding team effort brought defending champions Peshawar Zalmi back in the contention of a Play-offs berth in the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2018 edition.

The Peshawar boys were in red hot form as the bowlers restricted Karachi Kings to 137 for eight in pursuit of a 182 run target to score a cruical 44 run win.

Kings relied heavily on opener Babar Azam who scored 66 off 50 balls, an innings that included four sixes and four fours, none of the top-order batsmen could replicate Babar’s effort as wickets kept tumbling at regular intervals.

Kings were almost out of reckoning when star all-rounder Shahid Afridi walked in to bat, Afridi responded with a quickfire eight ball 26 run innings that included four sixes, three of which came in one Sameen Gul over.

After Afridi’s departure the match petered out to a tame end with Zalmi maintaining their stranglehold in the dying moments.

Liam Dawson who took the prized wicket of Afridi was the pick of the bowlers taking three wickets in his four over spell, Wahab Riaz and Umaid Asif took two wickets each.

Earlier, the much vaunted Zalmi middle-order finally came to the fore as a whopping 121 were added in the last 10 overs of the innings.

From a below par 59 for two at the end of the 10th over, Zalmi lifted the score to an imposing 181 for six in the allotted 20 overs.

Pacer Mohammad Irfan Jr. went for 28 in one over while Shahid Afridi was also taken to the cleaners in his fourth over which went for 21 runs.

Man-of-the-Match Kamran Akmal looked in control from the outset scoring an imperious 75 off only 51 balls, his stroke filled innings included as many as 6 sixes.

After Kamran’s dismissal newcomer to the Zalmi eleven Saad Nasim took up the challenge and scored a raid fire 35 while the final damage was done by captain Sammy who took full toll on Irfan Jr. and Mohammad Amir scoring an unbeaten 36 off only 15 balls.

The helpless Kings’ bowlers ducked for cover in front of the stunning assault that caught them off guard in the all important clash with Zalmi batsmen making full use of a typical Sharjah pitch after winning a cruical toss.