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Quetta Gladiators defeat Peshawar Zalmi, clinch PSL-4 trophy

Dunya News

Quetta have beaten Peshawar in both the league games this season.

KARACHI (Dunya News/Agencies) – Ahmed Shehzad and teenage fast bowling sensation Mohammad Hasnain shined as Quetta Gladiators beat Peshawar Zalmi by eight wickets in the final to clinch maiden Pakistan Super League (PSL) title on Sunday.

The closing ceremony, understandably, was stripped to bare bones, shorn of all the dances that adorned the opening ceremony as a mark of respect for the victims of the terror attack in Christchurch over the weekend.

Unfortunately, the un-embellished nature of the festivities extended to the cricket itself, throwing up a final largely devoid of all the drama, theatre, and excitement that enlivened so many games across the PSL this season. That did not detract from Quetta Gladiators  near-flawless performance, as the best team in the competition rose to the occasion on its most important day to inflict a heavy defeat on Peshawar Zalmi.

It was the fourth time the two had met this season, with Quetta, under the savvy tutelage of Sarfaraz Ahmed, prevailing each time. This one was perhaps the most comfortable, with Quetta easing to their first PSL crown with an emphatic eight-wicket win achieved in 17.5 overs.

Peshawar s heroes in the eliminator, Kamran Akmal and Imam-ul-Haq, both fell cheaply on Sunday, and that meant the middle order - which lacked Liam Dawson - had to consolidate for much of the innings.

The run rate consequently took a hit, and in the final overs, left Kieron Pollard and Darren Sammy to provide the fireworks. Much like the rest of the Peshawar side, they failed to live up to the occasion. All five of Quetta s bowlers had brought their A games to help Quetta march to a title they hadn t won before, and the hunger in their play was evident. Peshawar s formidable fast bowling lineup may have felt they could defend almost anything, but Quetta are expert chasers, and the 138 for 8 that Peshawar put up never seriously looked like challenging Quetta.

Mohammad Hasnain, who will turn 19 in three weeks and who is less than a week away from a likely Pakistan debut, showed why he had been picked with a sublime four-over spell in the biggest game of his young career. He tore chunks out of the Peshawar top and middle order, intense with his pace and stingy with the runs, hurrying on to batsmen and hurriedly ushering them back to the pavilion. The accuracy, too, for an inexperienced man with pace like his, was remarkably unerring and - though we ve seen this movie before - here is another young Pakistani quick with the world at his feet.

Imam was the first to go off Hasnain s third delivery, the extra bounce beating him and taking a top edge. After Umar Amin had got a middle order partnership going in the absence of heroics from the Peshawar openers, Hasnain was brought back into the attack and struck with his first delivery. He rushed on to Amin who could only jab the ball to the square leg fielder, who completed an easy catch.

The big fish was yet to come, and he toyed with Pollard for a full over, before coming back with a vengeance after being struck for four. It was another short, quick ball that did the damage, Pollard looking to pull but only managing an edge to the keeper.

This was a real team chasing a real honour, no hit and giggle exhibition where the result didn t matter. That was why Fawad Ahmed, still visibly uncomfortable following a nasty blow to the face that required stiches and surgery a few days ago, decided to take to the field again, delivering his usual sublime spell of leg-spin bowling. He got the ball to spit and fizz, making Peshawar s decision not to play Dawson all the more puzzling.

The only moment of doubt came when Shane Watson was run out after Ahmed Shehzad called him for a suicidal single. Amin completed a direct hit to run the Australian out, and Imam generously offered a verbal spray that Watson didn t seem to particularly enjoy. Quetta, however, were enjoying the occasion, and Shehzad took control of the chase to ensure Peshawar were never allowed to get their hopes up.

Not that Peshawar didn t try. They used seven different bowlers, two of them spinners who ideally shouldn t have been bowling in a game of this magnitude with a margin for error so small. Wahab Riaz and Hasan Ali put in typically spirited performances, Wahab in particular raising Peshawar s hopes one final time after he dismissed Ahsan Ali, hoping to trigger a mini-collapse that would allow Peshawar to sneak back into the game.

But in Shehzad and Rilee Rossouw, Quetta had too much experience to panic, and too much quality lower down the order to allow any real pressure to be felt on their shoulders.

In the end Rossouw struck the winning runs while Shehzad ended unbeaten on a 51-ball 58. A fixture in the Quetta side since he joined in 2017, Rossouw had been particularly sincere in his apologies when deciding not to come to Pakistan in 2017, citing security concerns. On that day, Quetta had fallen to the very same opponents in a game that they had never really been able to get a sniff in. Here, with Rossouw, Watson and all of Quetta s overseas contingent present, they was able to pay Peshawar back in kind. It might not have been a final for the ages, but over the years, as Sarfaraz and his men wind down their careers, tonight will go down as one of the most prominent highlights.
 

 

Quetta Gladiators hope their in-form opener Shane Watson will make them third time lucky as they look to avoid another knock-out punch from a spirited Peshawar Zalmi in a clash in the sell-out final of the HBL Pakistan Super League at the National Stadium. 

Quetta have beaten Peshawar in both the league games this season, before having the better of their arch-rivals in the Wednesday s Qualifier at the back of a powerful performance, but they are wary of a knock-out punch from the Daren Sammy-led Peshawar.

Team lineups for the game

WATCH VIDEO – PESHAWAR ZALMI WICKETS

Young Mohammad Hasnain picks up the wicket of Imam-ul-Haq, The steep bounce got the better of Imam and he gets a top edge into mid-off s hands. Imam-ul-Haq is out for 3. 

Nawaz gets rid off the dangerous Kamran Akmal for 21. The decision to go down the track was a false one as the ball turned and gripped the surface. 

Bravo to Sohaib Maqsood, OUT, caught at long-off This is clever bowling by Bravo, one of the foremost experts in this format. 

Mohammad Hasnain to Umar Amin, OUT, back of a length on middle, and he swivels to pull. Struck well but straight to Tanvir at deep midwicket! The man was there for that shot, and Amin finds the only outfielder on the leg side.

Fawad Ahmed picks up Nabi Gul who hit it straight to Shahzad at deep midwicket. Good catch in the deep.

Hasnain gets the big wicket of Pollard for 7. The Big man edges it to the keeper, Hasnain gets his third. 

A wicket of the last ball as Sammy goes for the big hit but is holed out at long-on. Bravo celebrates again, his second of the evening. Thoroughly professional and disciplined bowling performance by Gladiators. Young Hasnain being the star of the show with figures of 30/3 in 4 ovs. So Gladiators need 139 to win the PSL 2019.

 

WATCH VIDEO – PESHAWAR ZALMI WICKETS

Tragedy! Shane Watson is gone for 7. Imam Ul Haq gives him a send-off. A bit of argument there. 

Short ball from Wahab Riaz does the trick. Ali goes for the pull but it mistimes it straight to mid-wicket. That s out. Quetta lose their second. 8 overs gone.

 

Despite beating Peshawar in the Qualifiers in 2016 and 2017 in thrilling last-over finishes by one-run, Quetta lost in the 2017 final by 58 runs in Lahore and in the Eliminator 1 last year.

Quetta captain Sarfraz Ahmed hoped it will be a case of third time lucky.

"We are playing the final for the third time, so we will do our all-out effort to play in the same manner which we have done in the whole tournament," Sarfraz told a news conference on Saturday.

Last year, Watson decided to stay away for the Eliminators in Lahore, leaving Quetta depleted. But this time Watson, who has amassed 423 runs in the tournament, made a late decision to visit Karachi.

On the other hand, Peshawar skipper Sammy admitted Watson had plagued his team.

"Shane Watson has really been the pain for us," said Sammy of the former Australia opener, who has 265 runs at 66.25 in five matches against Peshawar in two years. "He is pretty experience and he is enjoying his form."

But Sammy hoped his team will give another knock-out punch.

Peshawar are more reliant on Kamran Akmal, who Sammy described as his "match-winner", having knocked off 336 runs in 12 games. Fellow-opener Imam-ul-Haq has justified his selection with 338 runs in 11 matches. They put on 135 to set the platform for an imposing 214 for five against Islamabad, helping their team to a 48-run win.

Peshawar also has powerful pace attack, led by tournament s highest wicket-taker Hasan Ali who has 25 wickets in 12 matches. Experienced pacer Wahab Riaz has 16, followed by Sameen Gul (10), and Tymal Mills and Umaid Asif (seven each).

Sammy hoped it will be another crackers of a game before a sell-out crowd.

"I like to be the underdogs," said Sammy. "To be fair, Quetta are playing some good cricket. The key for us is that our bowling unit has pretty much been the same. Hasan has been playing since his debut and Wahab leading the pack and sharing his experience.

 

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