RAWALPINDI: On Monday night, it was extremely cold at the Pindi Cricket Stadium. Despite the fact that the stands were packed and provided much-needed warmth, Islamabad United, sporting their vibrant red home colors, turned up the heat for their farewell.
In the HBL Pakistan Super League match, United defeated Peshawar Zalmi by 29 runs, rekindling their chances of qualifying for the play-offs and moving up to third place in the standings. Their skipper, Shadab Khan, ignited the fire, lighting the night both with the bat and the ball.
Zalmi’s best effort was a firefighting effort, spearheaded by Aamer Jamal’s outstanding half century, which demonstrated his tenacity and skill after Shadab’s 80 off 51 balls had given Islamabad a 196-4 lead. However, Aamer battled by himself until becoming one of Shadab’s three victims.
Zalmi lost their potent opening duo of Saim Ayub and Babar Azam in the first over, so they were in difficulty right away. While Alex Hales’ underarm toss on Babar’s behalf ran him out, Naseem Shah’s pace undid Saim when an inside edge from his gloves onto his thigh pad sailed to Salman Ali Agha, who was plunging forward, for first slip.
When Mohammad Haris chipped Rumman Raees to Imad Wasim at short fine leg in the first drop, things got worse for Zalmi. And when Azam Khan, the wicketkeeper, produced a brilliant athletic effort to dismiss Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Rovman Powell with a simple catch at square-leg, the Peshawar team was completely destroyed. Both wickets came in pacer Hunain Shah’s share.
As the powerplay came to a close, the scorecard said 18–5.
Zalmi was down to 59-5 at the midway point thanks to a counterpunching effort by Aamer and Paul Walter, which saw the two take on the Islamabad bowlers for a few boundaries and a six, which Aamer hit over square-leg off Faheem.
In the eleventh over, Aamer gave the Zalmi camp hope for a formidable comeback by sending Shadab sailing down the ground and over deep midwicket for his second and third sixes.
The right-hander pulled Naseem off his legs in the 13th over to reach his half century in 27 balls. In the following over, Aamer hit Rumman for six more runs straight and long, while Walter hit the bowler for four more runs in the same direction. Together, they added 19 runs to the total.
Aamer and Walter needed to give it their best because they needed 85 from the final six overs. Furthermore, it did not help that after tossing the bat and everything, there were only 13 runs in the next two overs, the last of which gave Shadab his wicket.
Even after Aamer hit two stunning sixes (87 off 49) against Shadab, the latter went on to castle the former and then destroy the stumps of the oncoming Mohammad Zeeshan to ultimately end the match, sealing Zalmi’s destiny as the equation grew more and more difficult with each ball.
When Islamabad batted first, they appeared to have a great surface since they easily destroyed the Peshawar bowlers. The home team got off to a strong start thanks to the captain of Shadab’s 80 off 51 balls, which included six sixes and four fours. Later, Zalmi suffered more damage from unbeaten cameos by Azam Khan (29 off 14) and Jordan Cox (26 off 20).
Saim, who is more well-known for his batting heroics, struck for Zalmi on the opening delivery of the game, startling Islamabad opener Hales with a carom ball that straightened.
After forcing a skier off Hales’ opening partner Colin Munro, the off-spinner allowed Babar to make an easy catch in the circle. Shadab and Salman then staged a sort of comeback, bringing the side to 46-2 before the end of the powerplay.
The comeback was sustained when leg-spinner Arif Yaqoob was punished by Salman for bowling short and hitting two boundaries in the ninth over, then Shadab crushed pacer Aamer with a well-timed shot for six in the following over.
Islamabad stormed to 88-2 at the midway point as Shadab hit quick bowler Walter for his third maximum. Salman then danced down the ground to remove further cover off Arif.
When Salman (37 off 25) attempted to scoop bowler Salman Irshad, the ball ended up in the hands of wicket-keeper Haris after taking a feather edge off the right-hander’s bat. This ended the 65-run partnership, which had come off 44 balls.
Shadab persisted, hitting Arif for a straight six more times and reaching his fifty-seventh wicket in thirty-four balls. In the thirteenth over, he edged Luke Wood behind for a boundary.
In the fourteenth over, after driving Salman Irshad down the ground to begin his bat, Cox arrived and smashed pacer Zeeshan’s bounce for a four and a six, before Shadab removed Aamer for two more sixes.
The former vice-captain of Pakistan reached Islamabad’s 150 in the sixteenth over when he chipped a yorker from Salman Irshad beyond short fine leg for four more. He eventually fell in the next over, however, as he holed Wood out to Saim at deep midwicket.
From then on, Azam Khan went for Salman Irshad and Aamer, bludgeoning the latter for three fours and a neat, clean six off him. He continued to run Salman Irshad into the ground for four more runs, and Islamabad scored enough runs overall to restart their campaign.
Islamabad United prevailed by a score of 29 runs.
