By Abid Usman
LAHORE: The Lahore Qalandars continued to win their second consecutive match against the Peshawar Zalmi on Tuesday at the Gaddafi stadium, downing the latter by five wickets.
It wasn’t until Brathwaite took two quick wickets that the Zalmi started believing in a win yet again. The West Indian dismissed Bunk for 7 runs off 5 balls and Mohammad Hafeez who scored a run-a-ball 4 runs to turn the tables on the Qalandars.
Earlier, the Qalandars brought their A game against Peshawar Zalmi as fiery half-centuries from Fakhar Zaman and Chris Lynn put the underdogs in the driving seat of the match at the Gaddafi Stadium.
The Qalandars were off to a flying start with Zaman and Sohail Akhtar hitting boundaries all over the ground. However, a mishap for the Qalandars occurred when a throw from Haider Ali was instrumental in running out Akhtar. He scored 21 off 19 balls, hitting three 4s.
In walked Chris Lynn and he unleashed on the Zalmi bowlers right from the word go. His innings featured towering sixes and fiery 4s. Lynn scored 59 runs from 32 balls before a superb diving catch from Yasir Shah off a Brathwaite delivery saw him return to the pavilion.
Yasir Shah took another catch, a few deliveries later, to dismiss Zaman. He scored 63 from 46 balls, hitting seven boundaries in total (four 4s and three 6s.
A match that had seemed under control for so long finally seemed to wrestle itself free from Lahore’s grips. It was needlessly allowed to go down to the wire but Samit Patel and David Wiese got what needed done to get their side their third consecutive win.
Earlier, Peshawar Zalmi had set a 188-run target against the Lahore Qalandars after they were invited to bat first.
Haider Ali and Shoaib Malik both scored half-centuries, boosting the side’s total significantly, despite their loss of seven wickets.
After losing the toss, Zalmi were sent to bat by the Qalandars.
Zalmi suffered an early setback when Shaheen Shah Afridi dismissed Banton off his first bowl, caught by Mohammad Hafeez.
Shortly after, the in-form Samit Patel took Livingstone’s wicket. He scored a disappointing 4 runs off 5 balls before heading to the pavilion.
The dangerous Kamran Akmal hit a four and a six each before he got out, caught by Haris Rauf from a Patel delivery.
Reeling from an early loss of three wickets inside of four overs, the side managed to recover courtesy the performances by Ali and Malik.
Malik, who scored 62 runs off 43 balls, was dismissed off Wiese’s delivery when he miscued his shot and sent it down to Fakhar Zaman at long on.
After Malik’s dismissal, those of Lewis Gregory (8 off 4 balls) and Ali (69 pff 43) followed within an over of one another by Afridi and Dilbar Hussain, respectively.
Wahab Riaz was sent packing next, after having scored just one run. He was taken out by Afridi, who took three wickets over the course of the innings.
Peshawar Zalmi are at the number 2 spot in the table with 9 points. The ‘Yellow Storm’ have so far won four of their eight matches.
Read more: PSL 2020: Lahore Qalandars thrash Karachi Kings with 8-wicket victory
The Lahore Qalandars went into the match with their heads held high after drubbing Karachi Kings at the same venue two days ago by eight wickets.
The Qalandars will be looking to their star left-handed batsman Dunk to unleash hell on the Zalmi bowlers.
The Qalandars chased down the 188-run target set by the Kings in their previous match comfortably courtesy the onslaught of sixes by Ben Dunk, who sent the ball flying a massive 12 times, including the final shot of the match.
Dunk fell short of a century, however managing to amass 99 runs off just 40 deliveries.
Sohail Akhtar was the other big hitter who scored 68 off 46 balls.
