2640dThe Report by Danyal Rasool

Mir repels Afridi heroics to secure win for Karachi

Usama Mir defended 18 off the final over, dismissing Shahid Afridi and Hasan Ali on consecutive balls to seal a nine-run win for Karachi Kings over Peshawar Zalmi

Match Centre

Commentator: Akshay Gopalakrishnan

A manic night ends with Karachi Kings no longer at the bottom of the table, and they deserve the promotion after a hard-fought win. Lahore Qalandars take their place at the bottom. It has ensured the PSL is still very much competitive with all teams grinding it out. Here's hoping we have more such crackers as the week rolls by. That's it from us for now. We hope you enjoyed our coverage of this contest; I certainly enjoyed bringing it to you. Do join us tomorrow when Lahore try to get out of the bottom of the table when they take on Islamabad United. Until then, it's goodbye. Thank you for joining us.

Jibran: "Came around a stat that Usama Mir was 1 year old when Afridi made his international debut and today he bowled the last over to seal the win by taking Afridis' wicket. Well done lad"

Mube: "Afridi made his debut when he was 19 years old and he astonished the world with his fastest century and today an eighteen years old boy astonished the Afridi with his master class and the common thing between these two is both are leggie. Hats off Usama Mir"

Furqan: "No sleep for usama mir tonight.. day of his life, well done boy..!"

Kumar Sangakkara: Bringing the legspinner was the only choice I had, but the young legspinner as outstanding. He got turn and bounce. It was a good start but we probably slowed down too much between the seventh and tenth overs with me and Babar getting out. But outstanding innings by Shoaib Malik. I think Chris took one on his chest and one at short fine leg which proved crucial for us. All around, outstanding effort. A guy like that (Gayle) is always a knock away; we are trying to give him the best possible chance to score and hopefully he will fire for us.

Darren Sammy: Peshawar Zalmi keep on providing exciting matches, but we keep losing matches. I think they scored 10 runs too many from the position we got them in. Exciting match but disappointed to end up on the losing side. You always try to take the game as deep as possible. We had the belief till the last over that it could be done. T20 is all about momentum, the legspinner did it for them today. For us it's about more guys putting their hands up. We're not out of the competition, we have two games coming up and well regroup and try to come back stronger.

Malik: I think we were 110-something, but obviously against a good batting side, you need 170-plus on a good pitch. I knew I had to take my chances and I was successful. I am a batsman who needs a bit of time. Once I started seeing the ball well, I started hitting it well as well. Sanga and Babar set the tone well. I enjoyed th six against Wahab, we all know what he is capable of. Does not mean I am criticising him, he is a very good friend of mine.

Shoaib Malik is the Man of the Match for his half-century and one wicket.

What a finish and what a match! It keeps getting better with each night. Has been a weekend of some kind in the 2017 PSL. Tremendous fightback from Peshawar and it was Darren Sammy and Shahid Afridi, two batsmen who had looked out of sorts throughout the competition that came to the fore. And how they would have liked their team to cross the line. But it wasn't to be. And full marks to Usama Mir, the 21-year old legspinner. His captain took a gamble by throwing him the ball for the last over with a rampaging Afridi going beserk. But the young man was unafraid to toss the ball up to the veteran and he was rewarded with the wicket that sealed the fate of the game. Sammy has copped some flak with his place in the side being questioned. But he stepped up at a crunch situation, although his dismissal started the momentum shift.

hadi: "SAvsNZ, SLvsAUS, now this one. What a day for cricket lovers."

Muhammad junaid: "Stop it PSL !!!!! That was my last nail :( I am out of nails right now "

Mube: "Osama Mir ... Remember the Nameee !!!"

Shekhar: "Yesterday KP today Afridi , when will Gayle" Well, he may have disappointed with the bat. But he took the catch that sealed the match

19.5
W
Usama Mir to Hasan Ali, OUT, and this is how it ends. Fittingly, Bopara, who has arguably been the best fielder of the night takes the catch at long-off. Hasan was looking to loft it and ends up skying it but does not get the distance desired. Bopara runs forward and slides to pluck another superb catch. Sammy and the rest of Peshawar look dejected, jubilation within the Karachi camp

Hasan Ali c Bopara b Usama Mir 10 (4b 1x4 1x6) SR: 250

19.4
W
Usama Mir to Shahid Afridi, OUT, Afridi's highly entertaining, equally valuable innings comes to an end after a slog gone awry. Chris Gayle makes amends for his earlier lapse by running to his left and taking a good catch. Afridi skews it off the splice to the backward square leg region and Gayle moves like he has never moved to take that

Shahid Afridi c Gayle b Usama Mir 54 (28b 3x4 5x6) SR: 192.85

19.3
6
Usama Mir to Shahid Afridi, SIX, Afridi keeps Peshwar's hopes alive and their hearts racing. Straighter ball and Afridi slogs it over deep midwicket and it has gone a long way into the stands
19.2
0
Usama Mir to Shahid Afridi, no run, flat on middle and leg, tries to slog against the turn and inside-edges it to the thigh
19.1
2
Usama Mir to Shahid Afridi, 2 runs, gets down for a slog sweep and gets it off the inside part of the bat to fine leg. Gayle makes a lazy effort at fine leg, sticking a boot out instead of getting down and using his hands. Allows the extra run and Afridi to come back for the second

Eighteen required off the last over. And it is a legspinner to bowl it. Afridi on strike. Game very much on folks!

Wajid Jawaid: "Will we have any nails left by the end of this PSL?"

Naseef: "Such exciting games are what ruins my sleep every night. What a show from the two old horses of Zalmi!!"

Kapil: "Ridiculous. What's happening? No balls in penultimate overs. How poor has bowling become. Can someone actually defend 8-9 runs, leave alone 15?"

END OF OVER:
19 | 17 Runs 1 Wkt | PZ: 157/8 (18 runs required from 6 balls, RR: 8.26, RRR: 18.00)

  • Hasan Ali10 (3b)
  • Shahid Afridi46 (24b)
  • Usman Shinwari4-0-32-3
  • Sohail Khan4-1-28-3
18.6
4
Usman Shinwari to Hasan Ali, FOUR, you know what! Doesn't matter if they did not take the single the previous ball because it is a fabulous end to the over. Moves across the stumps and scoops it past the diving wicketkeeper to the fine leg boundary. Fantastic skill and great execution

Zalmi 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st32Kamran AkmalTamim Iqbal
2nd1Tamim IqbalIftikhar Ahmed
3rd0EJG MorganIftikhar Ahmed
4th10EJG MorganShakib Al Hasan
5th15Sohaib MaqsoodShakib Al Hasan
6th11DJG SammyShakib Al Hasan
7th70Shahid AfridiDJG Sammy
8th7Shahid AfridiWahab Riaz
9th19Shahid AfridiHasan Ali
10th0Hasan AliImran Khan (1)

Pakistan Super League

TeamMWLPTNRR
PZ84390.309
QG84390.166
KK8448-0.098
IU8448-0.139
LQ8356-0.223