RAWALPINDI: The crowd at the Pindi Cricket Stadium yelled “Chacha, Chacha” in anticipation of “Iftimania,” a phrase that has recently come to characterize Iftikhar Ahmed’s impressive feats of strength.
The Pakistani all-rounder’s game-winning knocks are usually more enjoyed by the crowd than ones from other players.
And it was planned for Iftikhar to lead Multan Sultans against Peshawar Zalmi in Tuesday night’s HBL Pakistan Super League game.
Due to skipper Babar Azam’s half century and a significant blow by Saim Ayub, Multan had only reached 91 of the 205 runs Zalmi had set when he came in to bat. Iftikhar faced an almost insurmountable task with four wickets down and just 48 balls remaining.
However, he displayed muscle to begin the rescue operation with two fours off Salman Irshad’s slingy pace, as was to be expected from the powerful batter.
Zalmi pacer Aamer Jamal was bowling accurately and letting no runs through, which was making life much harder for Iftikhar and Khushdil Shah on the other end.
As Khushdil gave in to Naveen-ul-Haq in the sixteenth over, he was unable to release the pressure, and Chris Jordan joined Iftikhar in his deception.
In the eighteenth over, Iftikhar struck three sixes off of Aamer by smashing him over long-on and deep fine-leg with his tremendous power. He preserved Multan’s chances by hitting Naveen for a four and a six in the penultimate over. However, despite Jordan’s two boundaries and Iftikhar’s impressive straight six (60 off 27) as Zalmi won by four runs, Multan were unable to score the final 23 runs thanks to a strong final over exerted by Salman.
On the opening ball of the chase, Mohammad Rizwan came down the track and hit Saim for a six, making it abundantly evident that Multan intended to pursue the enormous mark.
At the beginning of his knock, the Englishman hit backward point and long-off for sixes against Naveen and Wood. After that, it was time for Iftikhar to give the Multan camp something to believe in.
After that, Rizwan stunned everyone with a sweep stroke for four, and his opening partner Reeza Hendricks opened his arms by posing a boundary to pacer Luke Wood. But Babar’s addition of left-arm spinner Mehran Mumtaz to the attack made it difficult for runs to come in.
Multan finished the powerplay with a score of 40-1 thanks to the debutant bowler, who bowled with maturity until eventually taking a leading edge off Hendricks’ bat to dismiss the South African in the fifth over.
They discovered they were in more trouble when Rizwan and Dawid Malan miscommunicated, allowing Aamer’s accurate toss to run out the former on the non-striker’s end.
When Tayyab Tahir was dropped by Mehran in the ninth over while on two, Multan was awarded an extra life. Multan reached 73-2 at the midway point as he hit two boundaries off Salman in the next over, making Zalmi regret his decision.
However, in the twelfth over, Aamer claimed his first wicket thanks to a superb fielding display by Asif Ali, who leaped into the air at deep square leg to dismiss Dawid Malan. Once more, Aamer hit to force Tayyab back to the pavilion. Saim caught the right-hander in the deep, leaving Iftikhar to handle it.
Earlier, Zalmi reached a massive total mainly thanks to Babar’s 64 off 40 and Saim’s 46 off 22. The team got off to a quick start thanks to Saim and Babar, who got Zalmi off to his signature no-look six.
After the left-hander had hit another maximum when he lifted David Willey, Babar continued the celebration in the third over when he hit another boundary with a brilliant drive through extra-cover off Mohammad Ali. Later, Saim had hit him over square-leg for another six and cut him over backward point for four more runs.
As Zalmi swept to a 71-0 lead at the end of the powerplay, spinners Khushdil and Iftikhar also escaped the notice of the openers.
Usama Mir was welcomed by Saim with two slog-sweeps for six, but a momentary distraction caused the leg-spinner to trap the left-hander leg before wicket; the third umpire made the call following a review.
Usama took advantage of Saim’s dismissal, which choked off Peshawar’s run flow, to remove Tom Kohler-Cadmore in the tenth over after the Englishman misplayed a skier and found Tayyab at deep midwicket, leaving Zalmi at 100-5 midway through the innings.
In the 12th over, Babar lifted Usama for his first six, ending an almost four-over boundary drought that had been maintained by Haseebullah with two fours through the off-side. In the fourteenth, Haseebullah gave Ali an incredible pick-up show while Zalmi grabbed some momentum.
Before being thoroughly embarrassed by the leg-spinner, Babar had amassed fifty runs in thirty-five balls, hit Ali for six more, then hit Usama for four more. After pacer Jordan castled Haseebullah, cameos from Rovman Powell, Asif, and Aamer propelled Peshawar over 200.
Peshawar Zalmi prevailed by a score of four runs.
