PSL 2017, Match 16, Review: Batting collapse sees Lahore Qalandars surrender meekly to Peshawar Zalmi

Lahore Qalandars and Peshawar Zalmi locked horns in the 16th match of the PSL 2017. Both teams came into the game riding on close finishes in their previous matches. The fortunes, though, were contrasting. Lahore Qalandars had managed to eke out a one-wicket win over Islamabad United, while the Zalmi had to face a 9 run defeat at the hands of Karachi Kings. Coming to this match, a lot was at stake. The Peshawar Zalmi got in with a chance to displace the Qalandars from the second spot in the points table.

In a very surprising decision, the Zalmi skipper Darren Sammy won the toss and opted to bat. This was a surprise to the opposition skipper too as the trend of the season has been chasing. The Zalmis played with Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, and Marlon Samuels as the other three overseas players. The Lahore Qalandars benched Jason Roy and played with Cameron Delport, Grant Elliott, and Sunil Narine in addition to skipper Brendon McCullum as their overseas quartet.

Tamim Iqbal and Kamran Akmal walked in to open the innings for Peshawar franchise. Aamer Yamin, who was the pick of the bowlers for Qalandars in the previous match, struck in his very first over yet again. He dismissed Tamim on 5 in the second over of the innings to bring Mohammad Hafeez to the crease. While Hafeez continued to struggle with the bat, Akmal was middling things with ease. He hit some exquisite boundaries on the day. Hafeez’s tough time of 18-balls yielded 13 runs before he was bowled by Yasir Shah in the 8th over.

Marlon Samuels was the new man in to join Akmal. Akmal looked in fine touch as he raced past his fifty. He could not make it a bigger one and was stumped off the bowling of Yasir Shah on 58 off 40 deliveries (4 fours). In walked Shakib Al Hasan to help the Zalmi continue the scoring rate despite Samuels struggling to find the middle of the blade. Samuels was cleaned up by countryman Sunil Narine on 17 (21). A timely 30 off 24 deliveries from Shakib, combined with some last over hitting by skipper Darren Sammy (17* off 8 balls) saw the Zalmi finish with 167/6 in their 20 overs. Yasir Shah was the pick of the bowlers with 2/19 in his quota of 4 overs.

The run chase for the Lahore Qalandars started in bizarre fashion as they lost wickets in clusters. Cameron Delport started off in fine fashion as his onslaught of 15-ball 32 was studded with 7 boundaries. He departed in the third over as he was caught and bowled by Hasan Ali. His departure started the cavalcade of dismissals for the Qalandars. From 38/1 to 44/6 is definitely not an everyday story. McCullum (6) was dismissed as a result of a runout. Fakhar Zaman perished on a duck.

Wickets of Umar Akmal, Mohammad Rizwan and Grant Elliott fell in quick succession as Peshawar Zalmi bowlers shared wickets among themselves. Sunil Narine and Aamer Yamin then added 45 runs off 30 deliveries to help Qalandars save themselves from an embarrassment yet again. Wahab Riaz struck in the 11th over to send Narine packing on 21 off 14 deliveries. Yamin played well for his run-a-ball 25 before being dismissed by Darren Sammy in the very next over.

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Sohail Tanvir and Yasir Shah then added another handy lower order partnership but that was never enough to see the Qalandars go past the target. Both added 55 runs for the 9th wicket before Yasir Shah was dismissed on 22 (19) by Shahid Afridi in the final over of the game. In the end, the Qalandars fell short by 17 runs as Peshawar Zalmi moved to the second spot in the points table.

In the match, the Qalandars ended up with 149/9 in their 20 overs. Sohail Tanvir remained unbeaten on 36 off 29 deliveries with 2 fours and as many sixes. Mohammad Hafeez and Shakib Al Hasan bagged 2 wickets each.

Brief Scores:

Peshawar Zalmi 167/6 in 20 overs (K Akmal 58, Shakib 30, Yasir 2/19, Narine 1/28)

Lahore Qalandars 149/9 in 20 overs (Tanvir 36*, Delport 32, Hafeez 2/25, Shakib 2/14)