Peshawar Zalmi win nail biter in Dubai

Brendon McCullum’s captaincy nearly sealed a spectacular victory for the Lahore Qalandars but it was the Peshawar Zalmi who registered their second win of the tournament at the Dubai Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

Chasing just 60 runs to win the match, it was expected that Zalmi would achieve the target with ease. However, some outstanding leadership from the former New Zealand captain McCullum took the game to the 17th over, when Peshawar finally achieved the target with seven wickets down.

England limited overs Captain Eoin Morgan finished the innings with the top score of 23 off 26 balls with the help of three fours.

For Lahore, leg-spinner Yasir Shah bowled an outstanding spell, where he picked up four wickets and just gave away six runs in his four overs.

Earlier, Peshawar captain Darren Sammy won the toss and decided to bowl first.

His decision paid instant dividend as Lahore kept losing wickets at a regular interval and were eventually bowled out for just 59 runs in the 11th over.

Middle-order batsman Fakhar Zaman finished the innings with top score of 33 off 19 balls with the help of four fours and one six.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2017.