LAHORE: Captain Wahab Riaz became the first bowler to reach 100 wickets in the Pakistan Super League and led Peshawar Zalmi to a 10-run win over injury-hit Islamabad United in a high-scoring thriller on Thursday.
Azam Khan’s belligerent 85 off 45 balls nearly upstaged Peshawar before Riaz, who bagged 2-26, had him caught at long-off in the 19th over to halt Islamabad’s chase at 196-7.
Islamabad, playing without their injured skipper Shadab Khan and fast bowler Zeeshan Zameer, had earlier pulled back Peshawar to 206-8 after young opener Haris Khan had bludgeoned 70 off just 32 balls in one of the most impressive knocks this season.
Afghanistan opening batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz provided Islamabad a whirlwind start by smashing 46 off 19 balls before Azam continued to prosper against both pace and spin and kept Islamabad in the hunt.
Liam Livingstone, who dropped Gurbaz’s straightforward catch at deep mid-wicket in the second over, had the Afghan opener caught in the fourth over before Azam smacked seven sixes and six boundaries.
Fast bowler Salman Irshad (3-29), who picked up the wicket of Gurbaz, dealt two blows in his return spell when he had the wickets of interim Islamabad captain Asif Ali (11) and Faheem Ashraf (9) in successive overs before Riaz sealed the game in the 19th.
Earlier, 20-year-old Haris completed his half century off just 18 balls before he attempted an extravagant reverse sweep against medium fast Waqas Maqsood in the 10th over and got caught at short fine leg.
Veteran Shoaib Malik (38) and Yasir Khan (35) played little cameos, but Peshawar’s three foreign signings Sherfane Rutherford (16) Livingstone (9) and Ben Cutting (0) couldn’t accelerate in the death overs with Islamabad claiming five wickets in the last five overs for 41 runs. Faheem Ashraf, who got the wickets of Rutherford and Livingstone, finished with 3-33.
Peshawar jumped to No. 3 in the points table with 10 points from nine games while Islamabad is at No. 4, having eight points from as many matches.
Peshawar beats Islamabad in high-scoring Pakistan Super League thriller
https://arab.news/vjtse
Peshawar beats Islamabad in high-scoring Pakistan Super League thriller
- Captain Wahab Riaz became the first bowler to reach 100 wickets in the Pakistan Super League
- With a 10-run win, Peshawar jumped to No. 3 in the points table while Islamabad is at No. 4
Curfew extended in Gilgit-Baltistan, probe ordered after deadly Khamenei protests
- At least 15 people were killed in clashes with law enforcement agencies over the weekend in Gilgit-Baltistan
- Government also announces a de-weaponization campaign, crackdown on hate speech and cybercrime in region
ISLAMABAD: The government in Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region on Tuesday extended a curfew in Gilgit district and ordered a judicial probe into violent protests over the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes last week, an official said.
At least 15 people were killed in clashes with law enforcement agencies over the weekend in GB, where protesters torched and vandalized several buildings, including United Nations regional offices, an army-run school, software technology park and a local charity building.
The violence prompted regional authorities to impose curfew in Gilgit and Skardu districts on March 2-4 as officials urged people to stay indoors and cooperate with law enforcers, amid widespread anger in Pakistan, particularly among members of the Shiite minority, over Khamenei’s killing.
On Tuesday, the GB government convened to review the situation and announced the extension of curfew in Gilgit among a number of security measures as well as ordered the establishment of a judicial commission to investigate the weekend violence in the region.
“The government has made it clear that the law will strictly take its course against elements involved in vandalism at government institutions, private properties and incidents of vandalism in Gilgit and Skardu and no kind of mischief will be tolerated,” Shabbir Mir, a GB government spokesperson, said in a statement.
“In view of the security situation, curfew will remain in force in Gilgit, while the decision to extend the curfew in Skardu will be taken keeping the ground realities and the changing situation in view.”
The statement did not specify how long the curfew will remain in place in Gilgit.
Besides the formation of the judicial commission to investigate the violent clashes, the government also decided to launch a large-scale de-weaponization campaign in the entire Gilgit district, for which relevant institutions have been directed to immediately complete all necessary arrangements, according to Mir.
In addition, a crackdown has been ordered on hate speech, spread of fake news and cybercrime.
“The aim of these decisions is to ensure the rule of law, protect the lives and property of citizens and crack down on miscreants,” he said. “Approval has also been given to immediately survey the affected infrastructure and start their restoration work on priority basis.”
Demonstrators in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi also stormed the US Consulate on Sunday, smashing windows and attempting to burn the building. Police responded with batons, tear gas, and gunfire, leaving 10 people dead and more than 50 injured.
Pakistani authorities have since beefed up security at US diplomatic missions across the country, including around the US consulate building in Peshawar, to avoid any further violence.
