KARACHI: Peshawar Zalmi slumped to their third defeat of this year’s PSL after they were completely outplayed by Karachi Kings at Rawalpindi on Monday.
Zalmi’s day began with a surprise when it was announced that Daren Sammy had been “rested,” with Wahab Riaz to replace him as skipper. Things got more intriguing after Sammy posted a cryptic tweet about being used a little while before the game.
In either case, Zalmi were able to field arguably a more balanced side, but then again Sammy’s biggest impact seems to be his presence. At the risk of reading too much into things, it really did feel like Zalmi were listless at the start without him. They lost two wickets in three balls, though a big factor in that was Mohammad Amir (briefly) rediscovering the sort of swing that had made him famous as a younger man. When Kamran Akmal fell soon after, the match felt over already.
Liam Livingstone and Shoaib Malik’s patient partnership didn’t do much to change that feeling, and when the former fell it continued Karachi’s dominance. But with Malik hanging around for long enough, he eventually came good. He found his striking range and despite the steady loss of partners near the end, kept the scoreboard ticking as he upped his own pace. It meant that what once felt like a contender for the tournament’s lowest score ended up at the lower ends of respectability.
When Karachi came out to bat, Hasan Ali set the pulses racing early when he got rid of Sharjeel Khan, insisting on an eventually successful review after the umpire had given him not out. It made Babar Azam in particular especially cautious, as the Kings’ opener lacked his traditional fluency at the start. His partner, Alex Hales also took his time but was the first to kick off, finding four boundaries off a Hasan Ali over. Before anyone realized it, Babar soon caught up with him, displaying his usual selection of silky stroke play. Zalmi, in particular, erred with their lengths, repeatedly bowling too short to the Karachi batters. Islamabad United had made the same mistake against Karachi the night before, and it was surprising to see Zalmi fail to heed that lesson.
The two threatened to end it on their own before Yasir Shah showed up. Unpicked in the draft, the leggie was brought in as an injury replacement. Straight away, he picked up two wickets in one over as Hales and then Cameron Delport fell to him. It forced a slight sense of drama in what was fast becoming a procession for Karachi. But even that feeling didn’t last long. Chadwick Walton hasn’t had a great PSL but walked out here knowing the chase was still well under control. He had time to get settled while Babar eased to fifty on the other end.
The defeat for Peshawar has also thrown the tournament wide open. With back to back wins Karachi hasn’t just shot up the table, but they’ve also made a statement of intent by beating two of the perennial powerhouses, United and Zalmi.
Peshawar, on the other hand, continue their confusing PSL journey. They had a convincing win over the defending champions Quetta and were clinical against the hapless Lahore. But they’ve now lost to Karachi twice, and their defeat to Multan was as comprehensive as this one. Given their historic track record, no one wants to count them out just yet but this is probably a good time to start worrying a bit.
