LAHORE (Monitoring Desk): Rassie van der Dussen’s quickfire century went in vain as a combined bowling effort led Peshawar Zalmi to a narrow eight-run victory over rock-bottom Lahore Qalandars in the 12th match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 9 here on Sunday.
Chasing a mammoth 212, the Qalandars fell just eight runs short of claiming their first victory in the PSL 9 despite van der Dussen’s unbeaten century.
The home side, once again had a disastrous start to their innings as both their openers Sahibzada Farhan and Fakhar Zaman perished cheaply, resulting in them slipping to 38/2 in 4.4 overs. Following the slump, Shai Hope joined Rassie van der Dussen in the middle and launched recovery. Hope and van der Dussen added 71 runs for the third wicket, conceding just 47 deliveries in the process.
The Caribbean scored 29 off 23 deliveries, hitting one four and a six. Dussen then put on a one-sided partnership with Ahsan Bhatti, who perished in the 17th over after scoring 20 off 13. He brought up his century in the penultimate over by smashing Naveen-ul-Haq for a huge six but failed to steer his side over the line.
Rassie van der Dussen top-scored for the Qalandars with 104 off 52 deliveries, laced up with seven boundaries and six sixes. Naveen led the bowling attack for the Zalmi with two wickets, followed by Luke Wood, Paul Walter and Salman Irshad, who bagged one apiece.
Put into bat first, Zalmi’s batting unit dominated the depleted Qalandars’ bowling attack and racked up a massive total on the board, courtesy of a marathon opening stand. Zalmi’s openers Babar Azam and Ayub came out all guns blazing against the home side and added 136 runs for the first wicket in just 14.2 overs.
The opening stand remained majorly dominated by Ayub while Azam was rotating the strike.
The skipper had an agonizing end to his anchoring knock, falling victim to his Qalandars’ counterpart Shaheen Shah Afridi in the 15th over, just two runs short of a well-deserved half-century. Azam scored 48 off 36 deliveries with the help of five boundaries.
Ayub was then joined by hard-hitting batter Rovman Powell in the middle and the duo carried on the momentum. They added a brisk 39 runs in 16 deliveries before Afridi castled the opener in the 18th over.
Ayub remained the top-scorer for the Zalmi with a 55-ball 88 which featured eight boundaries and four sixes.
Following Ayub’s dismissal, Powell took charge of Zalmi’s batting expedition and bolstered their total with a quickfire knock, which lasted on the penultimate delivery of the innings. He smashed five boundaries and two sixes on his way to a 20-ball 46.
Powell was supported by wicketkeeper batter Mohammad Haris at the backend, who scored an unbeaten 12 off just five deliveries. Afridi led the bowling attack for the Qalandars with 3/33 while Jahandad Khan made one scalp.
