Islamabad United defeated Peshawar Zalmi by 5 wickets at the National Bank Stadium, Karachi, to qualify for the Final of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 9 where they will face Multan Sultans.
Earlier on in the day, Shadab Khan won the toss and, unlike Eliminator 1, elected to field first.
Saim Ayub and Babar Azam came out to open, while Naseem Shah was handed the new ball. Obed McCoy bowled the second over where Saim started his display;Â hitting three consecutive boundaries.
Fireworks continued as PZ posted 59/0 in the powerplay; Saim stood at 41*. Islamabad took the first wicket in the 8th over when Babar tried to hit over the mid-off fielder; he was caught by Shadab and bowled by Naseem.
Saim brought his 50 up in the 9th over, as Zalmi stood at 98/1 at the mid-point. The left-hand batter’s wicket fell in the 15th over when he skied a regular ball from Shadab to the mid-wicket region; PZ made 131/2 in 15.
Shadab played a role in the third wicket as well, as Mohammad Haris mistimed a ball straight to the IU captain at mid-off.
The captain couldn’t be kept away from action, as he took another catch to dismiss Rovman Powell in the 18th over. He took a fourth catch in the 19th over to send Tom Kohler-Cadmore back to the pavilion.
Aamer Jamal’s cameo resulted in Zalmi reaching 185/5, as Obed McCoy didn’t give an impressive performance. Naseem, 4-0-30-3, proved to be the vital wicket-taker while Imad Wasim, 4-0-23-0, bowled an economical spell.
Martin Guptill and Alex Hales opened Islamabad’s innings, while Saim got the new ball. Hales went back in the first over as Mehran Mumtaz took his catch at mid-off.
Agha Salman followed suit in the third over, as he was bowled by Saim. Shadab, the unbelievable catcher, got out for a duck as Mehran bowled him in the fourth over.
Guptill tried to recover by hitting Saim for 22 runs in the fifth over, but his wicket fell on the last ball of the powerplay; IU made 50/4 in the first 6. Imad and Azam Khan stabilized the chase by the 10th over; United stood at 85/4.
Luke Wood dislodged Azam’s stumps in the 11th over, as Islamabad slumped to 91/5. Islamabad reached 129/5 in 15 overs; all eyes were on Imad and Haider Ali to complete the chase.
Imad completed his 11th T20 fifty in the 18th over, while Haider brought up his most-wanted half-century in the 19th over. The chase was completed in the penultimate over when Imad cover-drove Wood’s delivery to the fence.
Mehran, 4-0-31-1, and Khurram Shahzad, 3-0-22-1, were the only decent bowlers out of the lot; Saim picked wickets, at a high economy, but the others milked runs at IU’s will.
Imad Wasim was adjudged the Player of the Match for his all-round skills. He made 59* and recorded bowling figures of 4-0-23-0.
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