Wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Haris was outstanding with the bat for Peshawar Zalmi as he pushed his team to a win over Islamabad United in Match 24 of the Pakistan Super League on February 17.
Haris produced a terrific knock of 70 off 32 deliveries at the top of the order, including seven fours and five sixes, to propel PZ to a gigantic score of 206/8, which they later defended by 10 runs.
Zalmi made it past the 200-mark despite their lower middle-order collapsing and making no real contribution to their cause. Thanks largely to Haris’ brilliance on the night, and useful thirties from No.3 Yasir Khan (35) and No.4 Shoaib Malik (38), they managed to hold a strong foot in the contest.
Faheem Ashraf (3/33) and Waqas Maqsood (2/34) were the pick of the bowlers for United, but they lacked a collective effort to restrict the opposition to a more manageable score on what was another flat deck in Lahore for this season.
In the end, those extra runs did come back to haunt United, who fell two good hits short of inching ahead of Zalmi. They reached as deep as 196/7 in the run-chase but couldn’t overhaul the opposition despite an encouraging start to their innings earlier on.
Openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (46) and Mubasir Khan (21) stitched together a stand of 54 runs at the top. Gurbaz, especially, batted in great flow to raise his team’s hopes. But then a few middle-order stutters left United reeling at 89/3 with the asking rate going on the up.
However, this is where wicketkeeper-batter Azam Khan came up with his best innings of the tournament. The 23-year-old, who had shown signs of good form without kicking on, blasted a knock of 85 off 45 on this occasion.
The aggressive right-hander made six fours and seven sixes in his innings to almost singlehandedly take United to victory. But lack of support from the rest meant that even Azam’s memorable performance went in vain.
Zalmi had two major bowling performers coming to their rescue in skipper Wahab Riaz (2/26) and Salman Irshad (3/29).
Brief scores
Peshawar Zalmi 206/8 in 20 overs (Haris 70, Malik 38; Ashraf 3/33) beat Islamabad United 196/7 in 20 overs (Khan 85, Gurbaz 46; Irshad 3/29) by 10 runs
