Emerging stars shine in Peshawar Zalmi victory

Peshawar Zalmi’s emerging stars Umaid Asif and Ibtisam Sheikh shine as they register a 34 runs victory over Islamabad United on Saturday.

Islamabad United chasing massive 176 runs, they were restricted out 142/9 runs thanks to superb bowling of debutant Umaid, who bagged four wickets.

On the other hand 16-year-old Ibtisam showed his magic with the ball as well. He bagged three wickets just giving away 20 runs.

Playing without their skipper Misbah ul Haq, United batsmen failed to resist against Zalmi bowling attack. Faheem Ashraf was the only batsman who showed some character against the opponents. He made unbeaten 54. Samit Patel score 23 for the losing side.

Earlier, after losing the toss the defending champions were put into bat by United skipper Rumman Raees.

The opener Kamran Almal and Tamim Iqbal went off to a flyer as they went on to post 69 runs for the first wicket. Akmal made the major contribution in the partnership. He made 53 before being caught in the deep.

Following the departure of Akmal, Tamim put on the foot on the gas paddle along with Dwayne Smith.

Andre Russell who made his comeback to competitive cricket after one year suspension due to doping, haven’t had a best outing. However, when things started to look difficult he provided a vital brake though to his team in shape of Tamim Iqbal. The Bangladesh international departed after scoring 39.

Meanwhile, Smith, West Indian, made a vital contribution of 30 lost his wicket to Faheem Ashraf, who is making his PSL debut. Faheem also got the big fish in shape of Darren Sammy, who was unlucky with after getting inside edge on to the stumps. He scored 9 runs.

Mohammad Hafeez once again showed some form with the bat as he made unbeaten 31 to guide the total to 176 on loss of six wickets.

Faheem picked up two wickets while Samit Patel, Mohammad Sami, Andre Russell and skipper Rumman Raees bagged a wicket each for the United. Now they require 177 to win.