RAWALPINDI: The Pindi Cricket Stadium crowd chanted “Chacha, Chacha”, as they awaited an “Ifti­mania” — the term which has rece­ntly emerged as a description for Iftikhar Ahmed’s power-hitting exploits.

The spectators tend to enjoy match-winning knocks by the Pakistan all-rounder probably more than they do when those come from others.

And here on Tuesday night, it was set up for Iftikhar to take the charge for Multan Sultans against Peshawar Zalmi in the HBL Pakistan Super League match.

Coming in to bat when Multan had only scored 91 out of a required 205-run target that Zalmi had set — thanks to captain Babar Azam’s half century and an impactful knock by Saim Ayub — Iftikhar had a near-impossible task with four wickets down and just 48 balls at hand.

But as expected from the muscular batter, he showed muscle to start off the rescue mission with two fours off Salman Irshad’s slingy pace.

Zalmi pacer Aamer Jamal was not making it any easier for Iftikhar and Khushdil Shah at the other end, bowling with accuracy and leaking no runs whatsoever.

While Khushdil failed to relent the pressure as he fell to Naveen-ul-Haq in the 16th over, the arriving Chris Jor­dan became Iftikhar’s partner in crime.

The Englishman cleared backward point and long-off for sixes against Naveen and Wood right at the start of his knock and then it was time for Iftikhar to make the Multan camp believe.

With his immense power, Iftikhar smashed Aamer over long-on and deep fine-leg for three sixes in the 18th over. He kept Multan’s hopes alive hitting Naveen for a four and a six in the penultimate over, but a decent last over under pressure by Salman kept Multan from scoring the remaining 23 runs despite Jordan’s two boundaries and handsome straight six by Iftikhar (60 off 27) as Zalmi won by four runs.

Multan’s intent to go after the huge target was crystal clear when Mohammad Rizwan came down the track to launch Saim for a six on the first ball of the chase.

Rizwan followed it up with a staggering sweep shot for four before his opening partner Reeza Hendricks opened his arms with a boundary against pacer Luke Wood. Runs, however, weren’t coming easy, especially after the introduction of left-arm spinner Mehran Mumtaz into the attack by Babar.

The debutant bowler bowled maturely before eventually getting a leading edge off Hendricks’ bat to dismiss the South African in the fifth over as Multan managed 40-1 by the end of the powerplay.

They found them deeper into problems when a horrible mix-up between Rizwan and Dawid Malan resulted in the former being run out on the non-striker’s end, thanks to a pinpoint throw by Aamer.

Multan were handed an extra life when Tayyab Tahir was dropped in the ninth over off Mehran when on two. He made Zalmi regret it when he smashed Salman for two boundaries in the next over as Multan reached 73-2 at halfway stage.

But a terrific fielding effort by Asif Ali saw Aamer get his first wicket when the latter leapt into the air at deep square leg to catch out Dawid Malan in the 12th over. Aamer struck again, this time to send Tayyab back to the pavilion, with the right-hander caught in the deep by Saim, leaving it for Iftikhar to handle.

Earlier, Babar’s 64 off 40 and Saim’s 46 off 22 played the major role in pushing Zalmi to a mammoth total. Getting Zalmi off the mark with his trademark no-look shot for six, Saim, along with Babar gave the team a flying start.

After the left-hander had lifted David Willey for another maximum, Babar joined the party with a cracking drive through extra-cover off Mohammad Ali in the third over, which saw the pacer dispatched for another boundary by Babar, before Saim lifted him over square-leg for another six and cut him over backward point for four more.

Spinners Khushdil and Iftikhar also came under the openers’ radar as Zalmi cruised to 71-0 by the end of the powerplay.

Saim welcomed Usama Mir in the attack with two slog-sweeps for six, but a slight lapse of concentration saw the left-hander get trapped lbw by the leg-spinner — the decision coming from the third umpire after a review.

Saim’s dismissal suffocated Peshawar’s run-flow and Usama capitalised on it to dismiss Tom Kohler-Cadmore in the 10th over as the Englishman miscued a skier to find Tayyab at deep midwicket, leaving Zalmi at 100-5 at halfway stage.

Haseebullah broke the boundary drought of almost four overs with two fours through the off-side before Babar lifted Usama for his first six in the 12th over. Haseebullah played an outrageous pick-up show off Ali in the 14th as Zalmi regained momentum.

Meanwhile, Babar had crossed the fifty-run mark in 35 balls and hammered Ali out of the park for another six and Usama for four more before getting cleaned up by the leg-spinner. Haseebullah was castled by pacer Jordan before cameos by Rovman Powell, Asif and Aamer took Peshawar past 200.

SCOREBOARD

PESHAWAR ZALMI:

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

Saim Ayub lbw b Usama 46 22 3 5 209.09

Babar Azam b Usama 64 40 7 2 160.00

Tom Kohler-Cadmore c Tayyab b Usama 5 9 0 0 55.55

Haseebullah Khan b Jordan 31 20 3 1 155.00

Rovman Powell not out 23 15 1 2 153.33

Asif Ali c sub (Yasir) b Jordan 11 10 2 0 110.00

Aamer Jamal not out 12 5 1 1 240.00

EXTRAS (LB-2, NB-1, W-9) 12

TOTAL (for five wickets, 20 overs) 204

DID NOT BAT: Luke Wood, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mehran Mumtaz, Salman Irshad

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-84 (Saim), 2-97 (Kohler-Cadmore), 3-148 (Babar), 4-166 (Haseebullah), 5-186 (Asif)

BOWLING: Ali 3-0-46-0 (2w), Willey 4-0-36-0 (3w), Iftikhar 1-0-12-0 (1w), Khushdil 1-0-13-0, Jordan 4-0-33-2 (2w), Usama 4-0-32-3 (1w), Aftab 3-0-30-0 (1w, 1nb)

MULTAN SULTANS:

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

Mohammad Rizwan run out 32 24 2 1 133.33

Reeza Hendricks c & b Mehran 5 10 1 0 50.00

Dawid Malan c Asif b Aamer 19 19 1 0 100.00

Tayyab Tahir c Saim b Aamer 26 18 4 0 144.44

Khushdil Shah c Haseebullah b Naveen 11 10 1 0 110.00

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-4, W-7) 15

TOTAL (for five wickets, 20 overs) 201

DID NOT BAT: David Willey, Usama Mir, Aftab Ibrahim, Mohammad Ali

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-35 (Hendricks), 2-51 (Rizwan), 3-86 (Malan), 4-91 (Tayyab), 5-125 (Khushdil)

BOWLING: Saim 1-0-14-0 (1w), Wood 4-0-44-0, Mehran 4-0-20-1, Naveen 4-0-32-1 (2w), Aamer 4-0-36-2 (2w), Salman 3-0-46-0 (3w)

RESULT: Peshawar Zalmi won by four runs.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Babar Azam

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2024