KARACHI: Sohaib Maqsood, who hit a swashbuckling half-century during Multan Sultans’ victory in their HBL Pakistan Super League match against Peshawar Zalmi at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi late on Sunday night, revealed that he batted with a bruised arm.

In a post-match interview, the discarded Pakistan right-hander said he didn’t feel in the side effects and managed to free his arms to crunch five sixes and four fours in a blistering 31-ball 61 while sharing a brilliant second-wicket partnership of 116 off 76 balls with skipper Mohammad Rizwan, who contributed an undefeated 82 (56 balls, nine boundaries and two sixes).

“The team doctor gave me some tablets and administered pain-killing injection before I went in to bat and it worked wonders because I felt fine throughout my stay at the crease,” the 34-year-old Sohaib admitted. “I enjoyed batting because the ball was nicely coming onto the bat. Our strategy was to be careful in shot selection, and that’s exactly what Rizwan had told me.

“But we were closing in on the target, Rizwan and I decided we that should get the remaining 30-odd runs in a minimum number of deliveries so that our net run-rate gets better. That’s why I opted to go for big hits and it worked to our advantage. Credit to the skipper and the head coach [Andy Flower] for giving me license to attack when the situation demanded.

“The basic role assigned to me by the team management is to bat with freedom in general while trying not to take undue risks. At start of the last season, I decided to focus more on white-ball cricket and improved the skills to suit my game.

“Overall speaking, we are very much in the running to make the playoffs. But we are taking one game at a time and winning twice on the trot has definitely instilled confidence throughout the Multan Sultans team. Once you get into a winning habit, it’s imperative to keep the momentum going by playing good cricket and that’s what we have done so far in the Abu Dhabi leg,” Sohaib concluded.

Meanwhile, a disconsolate Sherfane Rutherford rue missed opportunities that let Peshawar Zalmi down, while saying the side fell 30 runs short on the batting front.

“Definitely it [defeat] hurt our hopes of qualifying [for the playoffs]. I think we should have scored another 30 runs to make it a tough chase for Multan Sultans because there is added pressure on team batting second when the target is around 200,” the 22-year-old West Indies left-hander — who top-scored for his side with a 40-ball 56 — lamented. “Our bowling tonight wasn’t at its best either but there’s always room for us to improve and come good because we still have two more games left, and we can always make a comeback.

“I’m really enjoying playing for Zalmi because we have a great bunch of players who always make me feel at home. As a team, I strongly believe that we can qualify although the conditions are a bit challenging here, especially in the night match because of the excessive dew. It was tough batting out there and I had to keep my gloves as dry as possible as because it was quite wet in the field,” Rutherford added.

Scoreboard

PESHAWAR ZALMI: Batsmen & mode of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR Haider Ali c Muzarabani b Dhani 28 30 2 1 93.33 Kamran Akmal c Imran Tahir b Dhani 35 27 5 0 129.62 Shoaib Malik c Rizwan b Dhani 0 1 0 0 0.00 D.A. Miller c Rizwan b Muzarabani 22 14 1 1 157.14 R. Powell c Rizwan b Dhani 4 4 1 0 100.00 S.E. Rutherford run out 56 40 2 4 140.00 F.A. Allen run out 3 4 0 0 75.00 Wahab Riaz not out 0 0 0 0 0.00 Umaid Asif not out 4 1 1 0 400.00 EXTRAS (B-2, LB-6, W-5, NB-1) 14 - - - -- TOTAL(for seven wkts, 20 overs) 166 - - - -- FALL OF WKTS: 1-71 (Kamran), 2-71 (Malik), 3-84 (Haider), 4-88 (Powel), 5-117 (Miller), 6-161 (Rutherford), 7-162 (Allen). DID NOT BAT: Mohammad Imran, Mohammad Irfan. BOWLING: Imran Khan 4-0-25-0 (2w); Sohail Tanvir 4-0-38-0 (2w); Muzarabani 4-0-37-1; Shahnawaz Dhani 4-0-31-4 (1nb, 1w); Imran Tahir 4-0-27-0. MULTAN SULTANS: Batsmen & mode of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR Shan Masood c Kamran b Irfan 14 12 2 0 116.66 Mohammad Rizwan not out 82 56 9 2 146.42 Sohaib Maqsood c Umaid b Imran 61 31 4 5 196.77 R.R. Rossouw not out 0 0 0 0 0.00 EXTRAS (LB-1, W-9) 10 - - - -- TOTAL (for two wkts, 16.3 overs) 167 - - - -- FALL OF WKTS: 1-45 (Shan), 2-161 (Sohaib). DID NOT BAT: S.O. Hetmyer, Khushdil Shah, Sohail Tanvir, B. Muzarabani, Shahnawaz Dhani, Imran Khan, Imran Tahir. BOWLING: Wahab Riaz3-0-33-0 (2w); Mohammad Irfan4-0-24-1; Mohammad Imran 2.3-0-34-1 (2w); Umaid Asif 3-0-36-0 Allen 4-0-39-0 (1w). RESULT: Multan Sultans won by eight wickets. UMPIRES: Ahsan Raza and Aleem Dar. TV UMPIRE: Asif Yaqoob. MATCH REFEREE: Iftikhar Ahmed. MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Shahnawaz Dhani (Multan Sultans). TUESDAY’S FIXTURES: Lahore Qalandars vs Quetta Gladiators (6:00pm PST); Karachi Kings vs Peshawar Zalmi (11:00pm PST).

Current standings (Tabulated under, played, won, lost, tied, no-result, points, net run-rate): Islamabad United 7 5 2 0 0 10 +0.956 Lahore Qalandars 7 5 2 0 0 10 -0.078 Peshawar Zalmi 8 4 4 0 0 8 +0.296 Karachi Kings 6 3 3 0 0 6 +0.463 Multan Sultans 7 3 4 0 0 6 +0.153 Quetta Gladiators 7 1 6 0 0 2 -1.865 *updated after Peshawar Zalmi vs Multan Sultans match on Sunday night.

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2021