The crowd poured in huge numbers to watch Peshawar Zalmi in action for the very first time in the tournament. Unlike the rest, Afridi won the toss and elected to bat first.
Things got off to a decent start as the in form Muhammad Hafeez looked in decent touch after scoring a wonderful on drive for four off Shane Watson, but in the very same over, Sam Billings took an absolute blinder behind the stumps to get rid of the danger man. Tamim looked to stabilize the innings early on, but wickets kept falling on the other end as Dawid Malan and Kamran Akmal also perished with in the first eight overs. The magician, Saeed Ajmal looked extremely impressive and bowled a brilliant spell, ending with figures of 4-0-19-1. He was supported well by Ruman Raees which helped restrict Zalmi to 58/3 in the first ten overs.
Things did not change much as United kept Zalmi under immense pressure with some tight bowling. With a little over five overs remaining, Shahid Afridi stepped on to the crease and opened his account with a boundary. Tamim also picked up his run rate as Zalmi looked to finish off strongly and smashed consecutive boundaries off Shane Watson in the 17th over. After a few shots, Afridi skied one and was caught and bowled by Andre Russell in the 19th over, after scoring 16 runs. Tamim followed soon after on the very next delivery after a well made 51 from 51 balls. Peshawar Zalmi finished their innings with 145/ 7 on the board, the most by any team batting first so far in this competition.
Shaun Tait opened the bowling for Zalmi and it was an action packed first over. He was pulled away for consecutive boundaries by Sharjeel Khan, and responded with a beauty to rattle the stumps on the very next ball. Shane Watson got off to a solid start while wickets kept falling on the other end. Babar Azam and Umar Amin were sent back to the pavilion cheaply, and once again, Misbah Ul Haq came out to hold the innings together. The fans were finally treated to the much awaited face off between Wahab and Watson, with the former coming out on top this time as Hafeez grabbed an easy catch fielding at backward point. Misbah departed after scoring only 12 runs, much to United’s dismay, and Peshawar Zalmi continued to keep things tight.
Islamabad United required 56 to win from the last five overs, which seemed probable with Sam Billings and Andre Russell on the pitch. However, Russell and Billings were both caught on the off side boundary in similar fashion on successive deliveries by Wahab Riaz, ending all hopes of a miraculous comeback. It was smooth sailing for Peshawar from then on, and they managed to seal a comfortable win as United could only manage 121/9 in their 20 overs. Zalmi have begun their campaign impressively, while United have suffered defeats in both their matches. Would be interesting to see how they bounce back from this.
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