LAHORE: Data may have helped Islamabad United to predict and be prepared for numerous possibilities ahead of their HBL Pakistan Super League Eliminator against Peshawar Zalmi, but for them to foresee that Aamer Jamal and Salman Irshad would go on to bowl an array of perfect yorkers in the death overs would have been just too big of an ask.

Here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Thursday night, United were cruising in their pursuit of a formidable 184-run target with Alex Hales and Sohaib Maqsood set on their crease having reached their respective half-centuries.

The start of the 15th over, however, saw the tide turn against the two-time champions as Aamer and Salman started hitting the bullseye. The pair shared four wickets — all seeing the stumps fly and bails flicker — to see Zalmi edge by United by 12 runs and book a date with Lahore Qalandars for the second Eliminator.

For all their data-driven approach, United saw their dream to add a third PSL trophy to their cabinet ended in the playoffs for the second season in a row. Their captain Shadab Khan, who was unable pull off a miracle despite occupying the crease till the last ball, admitted they weren’t good enough.

“We qualified for the playoffs but as a team we weren’t perfect and that is why we haven’t made it to the final,” he said after the match. “We could have finished on the top two spots but we didn’t play smart cricket.”

United needed 56 off the last six overs, when Aamer returned to bowl. As Sohaib — who had seven fours and two sixes to reach 60 off 48 balls — exposed his stumps to go for another big hit, Aamer managed to go through the gates to castle him and break right-hander’s 77-ball 115-run partnership with Hales.

It was then Salman’s turn to destroy the timber and he chose the incoming Azam Khan to prey on with his slingy action as the batter failed to dig out a perfect, in-swinging yorker. Aamer steamed into shatter Hales’ (57 off 37) stumps as the ball reversed before landing near the Englishman’s toes before doing the damage.

The Mianwali-born all-rounder successfully targeted the stumps again in the 17th over to run-out Faheem Ashraf with the left-hander getting involved in a mix-up with Colin Munro at the other end and Salman effectively finished United off when Munro played a short ball by him onto his stumps.

Munro’s was the last United wicket to fall and the Zalmi players already looked excited with nine more balls to go. With their coach Darren Sammy and captain Babar Azam constantly asking their men to keep calm, the Peshawar outfit finished the job cleanly.

“The ball was reversing in the middle overs and our bowlers adjusted their length really well,” said Babar. “There is always room for improvement, we will sit and talk about the mistakes.

“We will have to bowl well in the first six overs and not give momentum to the other team.”

United must have been disappointed to end up on the wrong side of things after Sohaib and Hales’ show, which started after Zalmi had struck early as pacer Azmatullah Omarzai got the better of opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz.

After having hit two boundaries earlier, Sohaib took on Omarzai for two more and a six in the fourth over before Hales lifted veteran pacer Wahab Riaz for a six and drove him through the covers for two consecutive boundaries.

Sohaib whipped Aamer for four more and thrashed the pacer over the covers for six to boost United to 67-1 by the end of the powerplay.

The next over saw just 10 runs come for United before Hales broke the shackles with a high and long six over deep cover off Jimmy Neesham’s medium pace and smashed the New Zealander straight down the ground for four more as the side reached 96-1 at the halfway stage.

Sohaib brought up his 50 in 39 balls with a pull over midwicket off Wahab before Hales took on the left-armer for another boundary. Hales completed his half century in 28 balls with two fours off Mujeeb-ur-Rehman’s spin before Salman and Aamer wrecked havoc.

After being put into bat earlier, Babar put on a show of poise and class for Zalmi. The right-hander played some technically brilliant strokes for his 39-ball 64 — an innings studded with 10 fours.

While his opening partner Saim Ayub was uncharacteristically streaky to start with, Babar displayed pure class as the openers struck three boundaries each off Fazal Haq Farooqi and Faheem’s pace in the first two overs.

Thanks to some wayward bowling by Farooqi and fellow quick Hasan Ali, Saim regained his touch to find the fence on the leg side thrice before Babar punched Hasan off the backfoot through the covers for four more.

After Babar had beautifully cut fast bowler Mohammad Wasim past point for another boundary, Saim miscued a drive to get caught at mid-on to end the 60-run partnership.

But the incoming Haseebullah got off the mark with a drive through the covers for four and Babar pulled Hasan twice for two more boundaries before Haseebullah hit another as Zalmi posted 77-1 by the end of the powerplay.

Although Shadab’s introduction saw Haseeb­ullah get stumped in the ninth over, it didn’t stop Babar. He used his feet perfectly to smash the spinner through the offside for two more boundaries before taking a single to bring up his fifty in just 28 balls two overs later.

Shadab came under fire again when Mohammad Haris played a ramp shot and clobbered the bowler over the covers for two fours. Been hit for 40 already, Shadab trapped Babar lbw on the very last ball of his four-over spell.

Haris (34 off 17) followed Babar after clearing midwicket off Hasan in the next over as he miscued another attempt to go big to get caught in the deep. The dismissal slowed Zalmi down and it showed when Neesham went down to Farooqi in the 18th over before Aamer was run out in the next. However, Omarzai’s (10 off 6) late cameo took Zalmi to a total, which eventually proved just enough for them.

SCOREBOARD

PESHAWAR ZALMI:

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

Saim Ayub c Faheem b Wasim 23 16 5 0 143.75

Babar Azam lbw b Shadab 64 39 10 0 164.10

Haseebullah Khan st Azam b Shadab 15 11 3 0 136.36

Mohammad Haris c Wasim b Hasan 34 17 3 2 200.00

Tom Kohler-Cadmore run out (Wasim) 16 22 1 0 72.72

James Neesham c Mubasir b Fazalhaq 2 5 0 0 40.00

Aamer Jamal run out (Munro) 1 3 0 0 33.33

Azmatullah Omarzai b Faheem 10 6 2 0 166.66

Wahab Riaz not out 0 1 0 0 0.00

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-9, W-8) 18

TOTAL (for eight wickets, 20 overs) 183

DID NOT BAT: Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Salman Irshad

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-60 (Saim), 2-96 (Haseebullah), 3-137 (Babar), 4-148 (Haris), 5-159 (Neesham), 6-162 (Aamer), 7-181 (Omarzai), 8-183 (Kohler-Cadmore)

BOWLING: Farooqi 4-0-31-1 (2w), Faheem 3-0-29-1 (1w), Hasan 4-0-37-1 (1w), Wasim 4-0-29-1, Shadab 4-0-40-2, Mubasir 1-0-7-0

ISLAMABAD UNITED:

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

Rahmanullah Gurbaz c Mujeeb b Omarzai 10 7 1 1 142.85

Alex Hales b Aamer 57 37 7 2 154.05

Sohaib Maqsood b Aamer 60 48 7 2 125.00

Azam Khan b Salman 2 3 0 0 66.66

Colin Munro b Salman 4 9 1 0 44.44

Faheem Ashraf run out (Aamer) 5 2 1 0 250.00

Shadab Khan not out 26 12 3 1 216.66

Hasan Ali not out 0 2 0 0 0.00

EXTRAS (LB-7) 7

TOTAL (for six wickets, 20 overs) 171

DID NOT BAT: Mubasir Khan, Mohammad Wasim, Fazalhaq Farooqi

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-13 (Gurbaz), 2-128 (Sohaib), 3-133 (Azam), 4-137 (Hales), 5-142 (Faheem), 6-154 (Munro)

BOWLING: Mujeeb 4-0-30-0, Omarzai 4-0-33-1, Wahab 2-0-28-0, Aamer 4-0-36-2, Neesham 2-0-19-0, Salman 4-0-18-2

RESULT: Peshawar Zalmi won by 12 runs.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2023