MULTAN: Multan Sultan’s had put up a big ask but Peshawar Zalmi were going for it.

In pursuit of a massive 211-run target — powered by Rilee Rossouw’s relentless show for the hosts — Zalmi youngsters Moha­mmad Haris and Saim Ayub were unfazed as they kept firing with some audacious range of strokes despite losing their captain Babar Azam early.

But once Haris fell, the remaining Zalmi line-up fell like dominoes, with the side eventually going down to a 56-run loss in their HBL Pakistan Super League match here at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Friday.

Had Haris lost his wicket in an attempt to go for another big hit after having rallied to 40 off 23 — thanks to four sixes and a four — it might have not been as painful for the Peshawar outfit. The right-handed opener had found himself too far from the crease at the non-striker’s end in the ninth over when Abbas Afridi’s direct hit ended his time in the middle.

Multan captain Moha­mmad Rizwan had sensed lack of pace was bothering the batters and introduced leg-spinner Usama Mir in the 11th over. The right-armer went on to dismiss in-form striker Tom Kohler-Cadmore as the Englishman mistimed a half-tracker to find Carlos Brathwaite at the deep square leg.

After Abbas had forced Rovman Powell to find David Miller in the deep after the West Indies batter had hit two sixes and a four for his 23 off 12, Usama returned to deceive Bhanuka Rajapaksa with a flighted delivery, which forced the Sri Lankan left-hander to mistime a shot into the hands of Kieron Pollard placed at long off before the spinner cleaned bowled Saim, leaving Peshawar reeling at 134-6, needing 76 off the last five overs. By then, Usama had registered figures of 3-22 in four overs. The last four Zalmi wickets fell for just 20 runs with Abbas Afridi adding one more to his tally with Jimmy Neesham’s dismissal, Brathwaite castling Wahab Riaz and Multan’s emerging pacer Ihsanullah ending the proceedings with two lower-order wickets.

Earlier, after Babar had put Multan into bat, it was all about Rossouw, who plundered the Peshawar bowlers for 75 off just 36 balls after replacing opener Shan Masood in the eighth over following a 54-run opening stand between him and Rizwan.

The South African seemed to look prepared for everything that was thrown at him and hit 12 fours and two sixes, playing all types of shots all around the ground. His effort overshadowed that of Rizwan, who made a significant contribution of 66 off 42, an innings studded with nine boundaries and a six.

Rizwan opened his and Multan’s boundary account with a whip across his legs for a one-bounce four towards square leg off Khurram Shehzad before guiding the right-hander for another past fine leg.

Shan also played across his pads for his first boundary, which came against Jimmy Neesham’s medium pace in the next over before playing a similar shot for the same result off Khurram in the following over.

Rizwan mounted the pressure on Khurram, once against playing over the fine leg fielder in the inner circle for four. To the pacer’s horror, it was a no ball. Rizwan went on to punish him with the huge six down the ground on the free hit that followed. In the powerplay, Multan had posted 50-0. Salman Irshad’s introduction in the next over saw Peshawar get their first breakthrough when Shan’s attempt to scoop the slingy pacer resulted in the left-hander getting caught behind by wicket-keeper Haris after adding 20 off 25 balls.

The incoming Rossouw wrapped up Salman’s over with a cracking cover drive for his first boundary. He got four more boundaries in the next two overs off young spinner Sufiyan Muqeem and Khurram as Multan got to 83-1 at the halfway stage.

Rizwan brought up his second consecutive fifty with a single off Sufiyan after smashing the left-armer two more boundaries. The nifty Rizwan nudged Salman around his waist and lifted him over mid-on for another couple of fours in the next over before finally departing when he skied a straighter one by Sufiyan for Haris to take an easy catch.

Rossouw was in no mood to let his partner’s dismissal get the better of him. The bulky southpaw launched Sufiyan for a huge six before playing a lofted straight drive for another boundary. He brought up his fifty with two more fours off Salman — shuffling across to hit through midwicket before guiding one past short third man.

Rossouw opened up the face of his bat to squeeze Khurram through point and found the gap at midwicket for two consecutive boundaries in the 17th over. He got his second six with a pullover square leg off Neesham before Miller joined the party as the left-hander squeezed the New Zealander past point for his first boundary before wrapping up the over with a massive six over the bowler’s head.

After Salman had bowled an economic penultimate over, in which he also trapped Rossouw lbw, the incoming Kieron Pollard launched Wahab for a high and long six on his first ball and managed a four off the next ball which was a free hit before some sloppy fielding by Peshawar got them to 210-3.

In response, Haris gave Peshawar a good start with a huge six over midwicket off Khushdil Shah in the first over. The young right-hander lofted pacer Sameen Gul for a big maximum before slashing for another in the next over.

Multan could have been well in the match had they latched on to an early chance when Haris skied Khushdil only to see Ihsanullah drop an easy catch. Haris continued to go after the bowlers, pulling Brathwaite in front of midwicket for his first four.

Multan got their first breakthrough as soon as they introduced Ihsan­ullah, whose yorker struck Babar’s pads for the batter to be adjudged lbw following a review.

The dismissal didn’t affect Peshawar’s progress in the powerplay, thanks to the incoming Saim, who played a square drive for a four off Ihsanullah before hooking the pacer for his first six.

He launched Brathwaite for another six, this time over long-on as the scorecard read 61-1 by the end of the powerplay.

Saim dispatched Abbas for a maximum with a ramp shot over the head of the wicket-keeper in the next over before Haris pulled the medium pacer for another six. Saim welcomed Ihsanullah back with four in front of cover but his blistering partnership of 47 off 27 balls with Haris turned out to be the turning point of the match.

The elegant left-hander, however, kept going and brought up his 50 off 33 balls in the next over with another ramp shot off Abbas before becoming Usama’s victim.

SCOREBOARD

MULTAN SULTANS:

Batters & modes of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR

Shan Masood c Haris b Salman 20 25 2 0 80.00

Mohammad Rizwan c Haris b Sufiyan 66 42 9 1 157.14

Rilee Rossouw lbw b Salman 75 36 12 2 208.33

David Miller not out 23 14 1 1 164.28

Kieron Pollard not out 15 6 2 1 250.00

EXTRAS (LB-3, NB-3, W-5) 11

TOTAL (for three wickets, 20 overs) 210

DID NOT BAT: Khushdil Shah, Carlos Brathwaite, Usama Mir, Abbas Afridi, Sameen Gul, Ihsanullah

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-54 (Shan), 2-116 (Rizwan), 3-191 (Rossouw)

BOWLING: Wahab 4-0-44-0 (2w, 2nb), Khurram 4-0-49-0 (1nb), Neesham 4-0-40-0, Sufiyan 4-0-36-1, Salman 4-0-38-2 (2w)

PESHAWAR ZALMI:

Batters & modes of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR

Mohammad Haris run out 40 23 1 4 173.91

Babar Azam lbw b Ihsanullah 9 8 1 0 112.50

Saim Ayub b Usama 53 37 3 3 143.24

Tom Kohler-Cadmore c Brathwaite b Usama 3 6 0 0 50.00

Rovman Powell c Miller b Abbas 23 12 1 2 191.66

Bhanuka Rajapaksa c Pollard b Usama 1 3 0 0 33.33

James Neesham c Shan b Abbas 12 9 1 1 133.33

Wahab Riaz b Brathwaite 1 2 0 0 50.00

Khurram Shahzad c Rossouw b Ihsanullah 2 4 0 0 50.00

Sufiyan Muqeem not out 4 5 0 0 80.00

Salman Irshad b Ihsanullah 0 5 0 0 0.00

EXTRAS (LB-4, NB-1, W-1) 6

TOTAL (all out, 18.5 overs) 154

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-41 (Babar), 2-88 (Haris), 3-95 (Kohler-Cadmore), 4-130 (Powell), 5-133 (Rajapaksa), 6-134 (Saim), 7-135 (Wahab), 8-142 (Khurram), 9-153 (Neesham)

BOWLING: Khushdil 2-0-17-0, Sameen 2-0-26-0, Brathwaite 3-0-22-1, Ihsanullah 3.5-0-24-3 (1nb), Abbas 3-0-33-2 (1w), Usama 4-0-22-3, Pollard 1-0-6-0

RESULT: Multan Sultans won by 56 runs.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2023