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LAHORE: Lahore Qalandars seemed out of it, only for inspirational captain Shaheen Shah Afridi to pull them back in.
Chasing 159 to win against Peshawar Zalmi, Qalandars needed 24 off the final over to win with Shaheen at the crease.
Shaheen had already hit big shots off Mohammad Umar in the Zalmi pacer’s previous over but this time he was more devastating.
After Umar had bowled a wide, Shaheen got a thick outside edge that flew over the wicket-keeper for four. That was followed by a six over fine leg and another over extra cover.
Suddenly, the equation seemed in favour of the Qalandars with seven needed off three only for Umar to deny Shaheen on the next two deliveries.
But on the final delivery, Shaheen forced the first Super Over of this season’s HBL Pakistan Super League in the final game of the round-robin stage when he heaved Umar over deep-midwicket to level the scores.
Shaheen, though, wasn’t effective with the ball as he was with the bat.
Fakhar Zaman and Harry Brook could only put five runs in a superb over bowled by Zalmi captain Wahab Riaz before Shoaib Malik smashed back-to-back fours off Shaheen on the first two deliveries to seal victory for his side.
The first a late cut that went through backward point and a second clipped off his legs to the fine leg fence.
The result, however, didn’t alter the standings.
Bidding to snatch second spot in the standings from Qalandars, Zalmi drew level on 12 points — with both teams six behind table-toppers and defending champions Multan Sultans — but remained third due to an inferior net run rate.
Now, though, they will square up against Islamabad United in the Eliminator, the winner of which will square up against the losers of the Qualifier between the top two.
Knowing they needed to score quickly and score big, Zalmi lost opener Mohammad Haris early on but Hazratullah Zazai (20) and Kamran Akmal (18) added quick runs.
Kamran cracked a six and a four off Shaheen in the third over before Zazai smashed Haris Rauf for two boundaries in the following over as Zalmi raced to 49 in the first five overs.
But on the first ball of the sixth over, Zazai gave a simple return catch to Mohammad Hafeez.
Kamran fell halfway through the next over with Australian leg-break bowler Fawad Ahmed, drafted to replace Afghan spinner Rashid Khan, undoing his stumps with a flipper.
With Zalmi having slipped to 51-3, Malik (32) and Haider Ali (25) combined to add 60 runs.
Malik hit a six and a four while Haider hit two fours and a six as the majority of their runs came in singles and doubles.
But just like Kamran and Zazai earlier, they fell in quick succession for the addition of just two runs.
First Malik attempted to clear long-off off Fawad but gave Harry Brook a straight forward catch and then Haider perished trying another big shot off David Wiese when he found Shaheen at extra cover.
Those quick dismissals prevented Zalmi from finishing with a bang.
Amad Butt (nine) fell prey to Shaheen’s pace and Wahab was run out in the same over as Zalmi were reduced to 133-7 with two deliveries remaining in the 17th over.
But Khalid Usman hit two fours in his undefeated 11-ball 19 and Hussain Talat made an unbeaten 17 to help Zalmi put a defendable total on the board.
Malik gave Zalmi the perfect start as they looked to defend their total.
On the very first ball of the Qalandars innings, this season’s leading run-scorer was walking back.
Fakhar attemped to work Malik away towards the leg side but only succeeded in getting an inside edge onto his pad that popped up and wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal ran from behind the stumps to complete the catch.
After the departure of in-form Fakhar, Kamran Ghulam (25) and Phil Salt (14) added 37 runs before the latter was cleaned up by Arshad Iqbal halfway through the fourth over.
Kamran departed with the score on 51 with Haris taking a superb catch while running backwards to give Arshad his second wicket.
Fresh from scoring a century in Qalandars’ thumping win over United two days ago, Brook didn’t last long as he was trapped lbw by Ammad Butt.
Sohail Akhtar made a run-a-ball 19 featuring a six and a four before Umar’s yorker caught him plumb in front of the stumps as the Qalandars had half of their side back in the dugout for 94.
Wiese fell soon after, this time Khalid getting a lbw decision in his favour.
Hafeez, who’d come in at number four, had frustrated the Zalmi bowlers as he made 49 with three fours and a six.
With him Qalandars had hope and their hopes increased substantially when Shaheen cracked a boundary and a towering six off the last two deliveries of the 18th over bowled by Umar.
Qalandars needed 30 off the last two overs but Zalmi skipper Wahab had Hafeez caught at long-on on the first ball of the 19th over before dismissing Haris Rauf on the third.
Wahab exploits only served to pave the way for a grandstand finish that saw Shaheen take centre stage to force the Super Over.
Scoreboard
PESHAWAR ZALMI: Batters & mode of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR Mohammad Haris c Fawad b Haris 6 5 1 0 120.00 Hazratullah Zazai c and b Hafeez 20 16 3 0 125.00 Kamran Akmal b Fawad 18 14 1 1 128.57 Haider Ali c Shaheen b Wiese 25 22 2 1 113.63 Shoaib Malik c Brook b Fawad 32 28 1 1 114.28 Hussain Talat not out 17 18 1 0 94.44 Amad Butt c Brook b Shaheen 9 6 1 0 150.00 Wahab Riaz run out (Kamran) 1 1 0 0 100.00 Khalid Usman not out 19 11 2 0 172.72 EXTRAS (LB-2, NB-1, W-8) 11
TOTAL (for seven wickets, 20 overs) 158 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-13 (Haris), 2-49 (Zazai), 3-51 (Kamran), 4-111 (Malik), 5-113 (Haider), 6-128 (Amad), 7-131 (Wahab). DID NOT BAT: Mohammad Umar, Arshad Iqbal. BOWLING: Shaheen 4-0-37-1 (2w), Haris 4-0-36-1 (1w), Zaman 2-0-21-0 (4w), Hafeez 3-0-16-1 (1w), Fawad 4-0-26-2, Wiese 3-0-20-1. LAHORE QALANDARS Batters & mode of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR Fakhar Zaman c Akmal b Malik 0 1 0 0 0.00 Phil Salt b Arshad 14 10 3 0 140.00 Kamran Ghulam c Haris b Arshad 25 18 3 1 138.88 Mohammad Hafeez c Haris b Wahab 49 44 3 1 111.36 Harry Brook lbw b Amad 2 5 0 0 40.00 Sohail Akhtar lbw b Umar 19 19 1 1 100.00 David Wiese lbw b Khalid 1 4 0 0 25.00 Shaheen Shah Afridi not out 39 20 2 4 195.00 Haris Rauf c sub (Yasir) b Wahab 0 1 0 0 0.00 Fawad Ahmed not out 0 0 0 0 – EXTRAS (LB-5, NB-2, W-2) 9 TOTAL (for eight wickets, 20 overs) 158 DID NOT BAT: Zaman Khan. FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0 (Fakhar), 2-37 (Salt), 3-51 (Kamran), 4-59 (Brook), 5-88 (Sohail), 6-94 (Wiese), 7-129 (Hafeez), 8-130 (Haris). BOWLING: Malik 1-0-5-1, Khalid 4-0-25-1, Umar 4-0-54-1 (1w), Arshad 4-0-30-2 (1w), Wahab 4-0-19-2, Amad 3-0-20-1. RESULT: Peshawar Zalmi won in Super Over. UMPIRES: Asif Yaqoob (Pakistan) and Richard Illingworth (England). TV UMPIRE: Rashid Riaz (Pakistan). MATCH REFEREE: Ali Naqvi (Pakistan).
Current standings
(Tabulated under: team, matches played, won, lost, points, net run-rate) Multan Sultans 10 9 1 18 1.253 Lahore Qalandars 10 6 4 12 0.765 Peshawar Zalmi 10 6 4 12 -0.340 Islamabad United 10 4 6 8 -0.069 Quetta Gladiators 10 4 6 8 -0.708 Karachi Kings 10 1 9 2 -0.891