PAKISTAN SUPER LEAGUE: Pollard powers Peshawar

DUBAI: Kieron Pollard smashed three sixes off Daniel Christian in the 18th over to propel Peshawar Zalmi to a seven wicket win over Multan Sultan in the HBL Pakistan Super League here Thursday.

The hard hitting Trinidadian stole the show during his 27-ball 52 not out laced with five sixes and a single boundary to help Peshawar overhaul a daunting 173-run target to push Multan Sultans in the relegation zone in the league.

Umar Amin smacked the second ball of the final over for a four to finish with a 37-ball 54 not out with seven boundaries and added 91 for the unbroken fourth wicket stand with Pollard, that came off just 54 balls.

Johnson Charles top-scored with a 31-ball 57 with eight boundaries and a six to post a challenging 172-5 after they were put into bat by Peshawar skipper Darren Sammy.

The win lifted Peshawar to the top of the table (eight points from six games, winning four and losing two with a net run-rate of 0.97). Islamabad United are second with four wins, three losses in seven matches but have a better net run-rate than Quetta, who also have eight points from six games — two defeats and four wins.

Lahore Qalandars are fourth (three wins and three losses in six games), Multan are fifth (two wins and five losses in seven games) while Karachi Kings are sixth and last with four points from six games, four losses and two wins.

Pollard said he knew one over could change the match.

“I missed a couple of balls initially and the asking rate was getting tighter but I knew that one over can make it easy,” said Pollard.

Peshawar were off to a brisk start as another West Indian Andre Fletcher hit three boundaries and a six in his 14-ball 24 with three boundaries and a six to take Peshawar to 34 in the fourth over. But Fletcher and Kamran Akmal (nought) fell in the space of just one run.

This is Kamran’s third duck this year, leaving him 11 short of becoming the first batsman in PSL history to complete 1,000 runs.

From 35-2 Imam-ul-Haq (34-ball 39 with two boundaries and a six) and Amin took the total to 85 when Imam was stumped off Shahid Afridi. With the asking rate climbing there was no better batsman than Pollard to surmount the uphill task.

He collected 22 off the 18th over from Christian to bring Peshawar within 13 runs of victory.

Multan Sultans rode on a brilliant 76-run second wicket stand between Charles and Vince who made 38-ball 41. The two took Multan to 90 in the first ten overs. Opener Umer Siddiq made 18 before he fell to Umaid Asif.

Charles smashed four consecutive boundaries off Wahab Riaz to complete his half century off just 29 balls. He was finally bowled by left-arm spinner Liam Dawson in the 13th over.

Malik made 21-ball 28 with two boundaries and a six but Shahid Afridi failed to make an impact in the final overs, falling to a run out dismissal for just one. PSL’s leading wicket-taker Hasan Ali conceded 42 in his four overs and managed just one wicket.

Brief scores: Multan Sultans 172-5 in 20 overs (J. Charles 57, J. Vince 41). Peshawar Zalmi 176-3 in 19.2 overs (Umar Amin 54 not out, K. Pollard 52 not out).