Once again, batting took centre stage as Peshawar Zalmi defeated the Multan Sultans with just an over left to play.
Englishman Tom Kohler-Cadmore struck a half century on his debut in the Pakistan Super League to see Peshawar successfully chase down Multan’s innings of 193.
Peshawar won the toss and elected to send the Sultans into bat. The Sultans, coached by ex-England boss Andy Flower, opened with captain Mohammad Rizwan and Australian Chris Lynn. Lynn faced just four balls before edging a length ball, bowled by Mohammad Irfan, wide of Haider Ali at first slip. Ali lunged to take the catch low to his right and leave the Sultans 4-1 with only seven balls gone.
Rizwan was then joined at the crease by James Vince and together the pair put on 82 runs before the 28-year-old captain was dismissed for 41 runs off 28 balls. Just over halfway into the Sultans innings, he attempted to drive at a ball by Mohammad Irfan, but another thick edge saw the resulting shot float kindly to Imam Ul-Haq who was fielding at backward point.
Up to this stage, Rizwan’s timing had been excellent throughout his innings, and five of the 28 balls faced had resulted in boundaries (three fours and two sixes). However, a slower delivery successfully deceived him and Sultans found themselves on a score of 88-2 with 61 balls gone.
Vince and No 4 batsman Sohaib Maqsood combined to continue an impressive batting performance and the Englishman brought up his third PSL 50 when he slapped a Mujeeb Ur-Rahman delivery over extra cover for four on his 39th ball.
Vince batted solidly throughout his innings, hitting 12 boundaries on his way to a score of 84 but was caught easily by Irfan at square leg with an over to play. Irfan, who at 7ft 1in is the tallest player to play international and first-class cricket, took a catch that although easy for him would have been a touch more difficult for any other Peshawar fielder.
Maqsood himself was caught behind by Kamran Akmal, but not before he scored a credible 36 off 21 balls. Rilee Rossouw and Khushdil Shah added 20 runs between them to the Sultans total before the innings ended to leave them with a total of 193-4.
Peshawar came out to bat and immediately got to work at getting towards the target of 194.
On just the third ball of the innings, Kamran Akmal smashed Sohail Tanvir’s short delivery past point for a four. In the third over, Tanvir saw himself hit for 15 runs that included two fours – one from Imam-Ul-Haq and one from Akmal – as well as one ferocious six hit by Akmal that flew over midwicket.
The pairing put an impressive 57 runs on the scoreboard before Akmal was bowled LBW by Usman Qadir. Initially, it looked to be plumb but wasn’t given. Sultans took the call to review, and the DRS showed three reds. The ball was hitting Akmal below the knee and was projected to crash into leg stump.
Kohler-Cadmore was next into bat for Zalmi and he hit a very impressive 53 in 32 balls. He looked assured with the bat and hit seven boundaries during his spell.
The Yellow Storm’s second wicket fell when Ul-Haq was run out by keeper Rizwan in the 16th over when he came back for a risky second on a shot only worthy of a single. The shot was played straight to Carlos Braithwaite at backward square leg, who threw cleanly back for Rizwan to whip the bails off.
Ul-Haq himself had contributed 48 but left Zalmi on 134-2 with just under five overs to go – meaning it would take a mammoth effort to reach 194 with the balls remaining.
West Indies international Sherfane Rutherford was next in but faced only six balls. Despite this, he hit an extremely valuable 15 runs that included two fours and a six. However, he was caught out by compatriot Braithwaite off Shahnawaz Dhani’s bowling. Rutherford reviewed, claiming he drove his shot into the pitch before it ricocheted upwards for Braithwaite. Replays showed this wasn’t the case and he was duly dismissed.
Kohler-Cadmore brought up his 50 with a six hooked effortlessly over the bowler Dhani, who slightly overpitched his yorker. However, Dhani had the last laugh as he claimed Kohler-Cadmore’s wicket with the very next ball. It was a short one that Kohler-Cadmore interpreted wrong and sent high into the sky, but Tanvir was there to meet it at the other end of its trajectory.
When the Yorkshire batsman was dismissed, Zalmi were 160/4 and needed 34 runs from three overs to claim an unlikely victory. However, they did so in sensational fashion when Haider Ali and Shoaib Malik came together to hit an astounding 35 runs off 13 balls. This included a remarkable 18th over where they hit three sixes in a wonderful display of raw, aggressive batting. Malik hit 11 off five, and Ali averaged three runs a ball as he hit 24 off eight.
Zalmi ended up getting across the line with a total of 197, a feat made even more impressive when you consider the fact they still had an over to spare.
The Multan Sultans will be disappointed they couldn’t win, but the nature of T20 is so unpredictable that you never know what the next ball will bring.
Wednesday’s action sees the Karachi Kings face Islamabad United (2pm UK time) as both sides look to continue winning starts to the tournament.
It’s only day four, but it’s already shaping up to be a fascinating few weeks of cricket in Pakistan.
