Peshawar Zalmi beat Islamabad United to set up eliminator rematch

Mohammad Haris starred for Zalmi, who were missing Babar Azam to illness

Nick Friend | 12/03/2023 at 13:45

Rawalpindi: Peshawar Zalmi 179-8, Islamabad United 166 - Peshawar Zalmi win by 13 runs

Peshawar Zalmi returned to winning ways after twice posting massive totals and losing, even without Babar Azam, who was missing through illness.

In his absence, Mohammad Haris starred with 79 off just 39 balls as the recent run-fests at Rawalpindi were replaced with a much more typical T20 scorecard.

The win for Zalmi over Islamabad United sets up a rematch between the sides in the eliminator as the playoff phase begins next week.

Had Islamabad chased down their total of 180, they would have climbed ahead of Multan Sultans and into second place, where they would have taken on Lahore Qalandars in the qualifier on Wednesday.

Tom Kohler-Cadmore was a surprise choice of captain in Babar's absence and he saw his side recover from losing Saim Ayub in the first over without scoring, before Bhanuka Rajapaksa – promoted to No.3 – shared a 115-run stand in just 9.4 overs with Haris.

Sri Lankan Rajapaksa eventually holed out on the slog-sweep off Shadab Khan for 41, before Kohler-Cadmore departed for a quickfire 12 and Haris mishit a Shadab full toss to long-off as the earlier momentum was lost and Peshawar saw their hopes of another 240-plus total reined in.

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^{Faheem Ashraf's dismissal ended Islamabad's hopes (Farooq Naeem/AFP via Getty Images)}

Thereafter, no one below the top four struck at better than a run-a-ball, with Hasan Ali and Mohammad Wasim excellent towards the death.

But Islamabad's reply never got going until they were eight wickets down and Faheem Ashraf, who smashed 38 off just 13 balls, made a late comeback on his own. The top three – Hassan Nawaz (0), Alex Hales (15) and Sohaib Maqsood (15) all fell in the powerplay, with Colin Munro the third member of the top four to depart for 15.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz (33) offered some staying power, keeping Islamabad in touch through the middle overs, but he watched Shadab slap Sufiyan Muqeem's googly to cover for 25 and then Gurbaz himself slapped Jimmy Neesham to cover.

Muqeem also accounted for Asif Ali and Hasan Ali in the same over, before Ashraf launched his assault. But with four balls remaining and 14 still needed, Khurram Shahzad produced the perfect yorker to send him on his way and dash Islamabad's hopes, setting up another encounter between the sides on Thursday.