Qalandars suffer a soul crushing defeat as Zalmi dominate
Once again, Peshawar Zalmi won the toss and chose to field first against a Lahore Qalandars side who kicked off their campaign in disappointing fashion after defeat in their opening match against Karachi Kings in the HBL PSL. Things did not change much for them at all as they suffered from the wrath of Zalmi’s fiery bowling attack right from the word go and got off to a horrible start! Junaid Khan bowled out Chris Gayle on the very first ball of the innings with a spectacular swinging delivery. Two balls later, Cameron Delport threw away his wicket with some careless running, failing to put his bat down on the crease even though he was miles in, and Qalandars were in all sorts of trouble. It got from bad to worse in the very next over as Mohammad Rizwan edged one from Shaun Tait to the keeper, and suddenly Lahore had lost 3 wickets for only 4 runs. Peshawar Zalmi off to a dream start!
It was always going to be an uphill task from then on for Lahore and Umar Akmal tried resurrecting the innings along with his captain, Azhar Ali. Zalmi’s bowling continued to impress, as Muhammad Asghar kept the batsmen guessing and put on a fine display. He dismissed Umar Akmal, who forced an edge towards his brother Karman keeping stumps. Azhar Ali tried leading from the front but runs were really hard to come by for him and his partner Dwayne Bravo. He too fell to victim to Asghar after a tough 31 from 41 deliveries and Qalandars stood at a miserable 66/5 after 15 overs. Bravo picked up the run rate later on and started to free his arms. He smashed Wahab Riaz all over the ground in the 18th over by smashing two fours and a six, before being caught behind to the keeper in the same over. Hammad Azam chipped in with 18 runs from 11 balls as Lahore Qalandars could only manage 117/6 in their 20 overs.
Peshawar Zalmi wasted little time and got off to a flying start as Tamim smashed Zia Ul Haq for three boundaries in only the second over. Hafeez also joined in with a six straight down the ground off Adnan Rasool and set the tone for the chase early on. Lahore Qalandars’ misery continued as Rasool dropped an easy catch which would have sent the Professor packing, but he was given a second chance and made sure he capitalized. The opening stand kept working the ball around and put on a solid partnership. Hafeez made sure Qalandars regretted that dropped opportunity and began middling the ball exquisitely, including two beautiful sixes off Rasool in the 11th over. Ajantha Mendis finally got the much awaited first wicket for Lahore as Hafeez, who had made 43, was deceived by a wider delivery and got stumped by Kamran Akmal. By then, the opening pair had already put on 95 runs in 11 overs and Peshawar Zalmi were all set for a comfortable victory.
Dawid Malan came out to the middle to finish things off with Tamim Iqbal, who has been really consistent so far in this competition. He became the first batsman in the tournament to score consecutive half centuries and looks in sublime form. Zalmi finished off the match with four overs to spare, capping off a comprehensive victory by nine wickets. Tamim Iqbal remained not out on 55 from 47 balls. Lahore Qalandars could never really recover from that horrid start and could not do much with the ball either. Peshawar joins Quetta on top, while Lahore and Islamabad desperately need to turn things around.
