SHARJAH: Peshawar Zalmi headed to Thursday night’s HBL Pakistan Super League clash against Quetta Gladiators at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium badly in need of a victory with the latter seeking revenge for last year’s defeat in the final.

In a late twist to what was again another great spectacle whenever these two sides play, Quetta had done more than enough to claw back from a position of no hope with the champions now requiring 28 from the last three overs.

Quetta perhaps didn’t read the script that well as to who to bowl at the death.

Anwar Ali was the questionable choice to deliver the final over with Quetta left to defend 10 runs, but they forgot that even a Darren Sammy on one leg was going to create havoc if the ball pitched in his zone. Anwar did exactly that and played into the hands of the West Indian all-rounder who smoked a six before hammering the fourth ball for a boundary to break Quetta’s hearts yet again. The fact that Sammy was reduced to a one-leg wonder by the knee injury was enough for him to be named as the man-of-the-match.

“We needed the win this one,” a determined Sammy said at the post-match presentation. “I thought Quetta did well to bring it back after our [great] start. It was a good win. Despite being injured, I always intended to bat no what given the match situation. It was a case of self-belief in my ability even though I could barely run.”

Quetta skipper Sarfraz Ahmed, meanwhile, refused to blame the bowlers while adding his team learnt a good lesson.

“We discussed whether we should bowl a pacer or a spinner for the last over. The pacers brought us back in the game and that’s why opted for Anwar [Ali] for the final over. Maybe in hindsight, we could’ve given it to a spinner, The Pakistan captain remarked. “Obviously it is disheartening to lose a game as close as this one. But the boys showed a lot of heart and I’m sure they will learn a lot from here. We must improve our batting and also need a bit more variation with our bowling.”

Sammy, in the meantime, hailed ex-Pakistan Under-19 Sameen Gul who made a fine impression on his PSL debut when he grabbed the wicket of Asad Shafiq before ending his four-over stint with figures of 1-20.

Scoreboard

QUETTA GLADIATORS:

Asad Shafiq c Sabbir b Sameen 9 S.R. Watson b Khalid 47 Umar Amin c Wahab b Sammy 11 K.P. Pietersen c Asghar b Sammy 5 R.R. Rossouw c Sabbir b Umaid 37 Sarfraz Ahmed b Wahab 17 Mohammad Nawaz c Sabbir b Umaid 3 Anwar Ali hit wkt b Wahab 3 J.W. Hastings not out 5 Hassaan Khan not out 1 EXTRAS (LB-1, W-1, NB-1) 3 TOTAL (for eight wkts, 20 overs) 141 FALL OF WKTS: 1-10, 60, 3-67, 4-83, 5-125, 6-130, 7-132, 8-135. DID NOT BAT: Rahat Ali.

BOWLING: Sameen Gul 4-0-20-1; Umaid Asif 4-0-18-2; Mohammad Asghar 2-0-35-0; Wahab Riaz 4-0-16-2: Sammy 2.4-0-21-2 (1nb); Khalid Usman 3-0-27-1 (1w); Smith 0.2-0-3-0.

PESHAWAR ZALMI: Tamim Iqbal run out 37 Kamran Akmal c sub b Watson 10 D.R. Smith b Nawaz 23 Mohammad Hafeez c Hassaan b Hastings 29 Sabbir Rahman c Umar b Rahat 11 Khalid Usman not out 7 D.J.G. Sammy not out 16 EXTRAS (LB-2, W-9) 11 TOTAL (for five wkts, 19.4 overs) 143 FALL OF WKTS: 1-23, 2-53, 3-107, 4-112, 5-125. DID NOT BAT: Umaid Asif, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Asghar, Sameen Gul. BOWLING: Anwar Ali 3.4-0-37-0 (3w); Watson 4-0-16-1 (1w); Rahat Ali 4-0-35-1; Hastings 4-0-25-1; Mohammad Nawaz 3-0-17-1 (1w); Hassaan Khan 1-0-11-0. RESULT: Peshawar Zalmi won by five wickets. UMPIRES: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and R.T. Robinson (England). TV UMPIRE: Ahmed Shahab (Pakistan). MATCH REFEREE: Mohammad Anees (Pakistan). MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Darren Sammy.

Published in Dawn, March 3rd, 2018