Sammy, who was yet to bowl in the PSL, was superb in the final over and gave away only one run in his final four balls despite being hit for a six off the very first one. PHOTO COURTESY: PCB
Karachi Kings fell just short once again as they ended up on the wrong side of a nail-biting finish for the second game on the trot, losing by three runs against Peshawar Zalmi to follow up on their two-run loss against Islamabad United.
It was Peshawar’s third win out of four, while Karachi have lost their last three games and the pre-tournament favourites are now with just one win in four.
Peshawar skipper Shahid Afridi won the toss and decided to bat first on a flat track that had almost nothing to offer for the bowlers.
Afridi’s openers — Pakistan’s Mohammad Hafeez and Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal — set about justifying that decision as they gave their side a superb start.
Hafeez was the main aggressor and reached his fifty off just 29 balls. He was unlucky to get dismissed in the next over though right after smashing Ravi Bopara out of the park. The right-handed opener missed a sweep and was hit on the pad, but replays showed the ball would have missed leg and should not have been not out.
The Peshawar innings stalled a bit after Hafeez’s dismissal as the Karachi bowlers managed to squeeze in some tight overs. However, Afridi and West Indian Darren Sammy ensured they finished on a high as they added 29 off 14 balls to take them to 182-4.
Mohammad Amir (1-24 in four overs) and Bopara (2-31 in four) were the only Karachi bowlers to impress.
Man of the match Hafeez felt they could have put up a bigger total on the board. “It’s good that we are involved in close matches because it will help us as we get closer to the knockout stages,” he said. “I thought we were 20 runs short but our bowlers did an excellent job.”
In reply, Karachi’s top order folded meekly — a far cry from the comfort with which the Peshawar batsmen had played.
Lendl Simmons was dismissed by Wahab Riaz off his first ball and it went from bad to worse as two criminal run outs followed in the next over.
Imad Wasim’s, in particular, was both galling and comical as he forgot to ground his bat while walking in after an easy single. Peshawar’s left-arm spinner Mohammad Asghar was quick to whip the bails off to catch him short of his ground.
Shakib alHasan (one) and Shoaib Malik (eight) also came and went in quick succession to leave half the Karachi side back in the pavilion for just 48, staring down the barrel of a massive defeat.
However, Bopara (67 off 33) joined fellow Englishman James Vince (44 off 28 balls) out in the middle and the two put together a counter-attacking stand of 61 off just 34 balls.
Bopara continued in his own merry way with Sohail Tanvir (23 off 17) and kept Karachi in with a shout till the end.
The 17th over, bowled by Shaun Tait, went for 26 runs to mean that Karachi were back in with a shout going into the last two overs.
With 13 needed off the final six, Bopara smashed Sammy for a six and a two off the first two balls to leave Karachi as unlikely favourites. But Bopara then holed out to deep mid-on and Sammy used all his experience to give away only one run in his last three balls to leave Karachi three runs short.
Hafeez praised Sammy for bowling the final over. “There are experienced campaigners in our team, which is helping us,” he said. “It was very brave of Sammy to bowl the final over as the pressure was immense.”
Malik, meanwhile, was magnanimous in defeat. “The bowlers did their job well to restrict Peshawar under 200, but the batsmen could not do their job,” he said. “We tried hard but in the end they proved to be the better side.”
Published in The Express Tribune, February 12th, 2016.
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