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PSL 2021 | MS vs PSZ: Shahnawaz Dhani, skipper Rizwan punish Peshawar

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It was all too easy in the end for Multan Sultans who defeated Peshawar Zalmi in the 21st game of the Pakistan Super League 2021. The eight-wicket win with more than three overs to spare while chasing a decent total of 67 would do a world of good to the Sultans who were reeling in the bottom two ever since the tournament started. Now with the third win, which also accounts for two wins a row and no losses so far in the Abu Dhabi leg has put Mohammad Rizwan’s team right in the reckoning for the Playoffs. 

Shahnawaz Dhani, the fun-loving, always smiling, heavy ball bowler from Larkana in Sindh was the hero alongside the captain for Multan. He picked up his best-ever PSL figures 4-31 in four overs. That too after having been dispatched for 24 in his first two overs. 

The Sultans cut to the chase right from the beginning with openers Shan Masood and Rizwan teeing off without much of a look around. The duo added 45 for the first wicket in just 22 balls before Masood was removed by Mohammad Irfan. Sohaib Maqsood, who arrived at the crease started dealing in boundaries from the onset. The two added 116 in just 76 balls to kill the game. While Rizwan remained unbeaten on 82 from 56 balls, Maqsood, in a hurry to finish off the game was caught at 61 from 31 balls. With this 82, Rizwan also became the leading run-scorer in PSL 2021 with 408 runs in seven innings.

However, he also offered chances but was not caught either by Shoaib Malik in the sixth over or by Imran Randhawa in the 12th. On both occasions the bower was Irfan.  When he was finally caught by Iron Man Umaid Asif, it was way too late as Sultans needed just six runs and it was achieved by six from the Rizwan’s willow. 

The fifth bowler once again posed problems for Peshawar as Fabian Allen was taken for 39 in his four overs. Even Asif and Randhawa were costly too and so was the skipper Wahab Riaz. Speaking during the post-match presentation ceremony, Wahab said, “We didn't execute our plans well. We were 10-15 short but I still think it was a fighting total. Dew did impact the game. If we had bowled in good areas, the result would've been different.” “We don't have to think about this game, it was just a bad day at the office. What's done is done, we need to move forward,” he added. 

Earlier in the night, after winning the toss Sultans decided to bowl first. They would have rued this decision at the start of the innings because of the way things were going. The opening pair of Kamran Akmal and Haider Ali put on 71 runs for the Zalmi in nine overs. The Sultans were lacklustre in the field, dropping chances and misfielding at the same time. While Dhani dropped Ali when he was just on six, Rizwan let down a regulation chance off the bowling of Dhani when Akmal edged an outside off delivery. 

But once those mistakes were done and the powerplay was over, Sultans started to pull things back. In the ninth over Dhani struck twice to remove Akmal and Mailk in successive deliveries. In his next over, the 22-year-old ended Ali’s miserable stay at the crease in which he made 28 off 30 balls, without making any meaningful connection with the bat. Rovman Powell too was removed in the same over, putting a lot of pressure on the Zalmi batting unit. For this performance of his, Dhani was declared Man of the Match and he also became the leading wicket-taker in PSL 2021 with 13 wickets from six games.

David Miller tried his best, but couldn’t do much after a bouncer from Blessing Muzarabani climbed on to him and he was caught acrobatically by Rizwan behind the stumps. At 117-5 with almost 16 overs gone, Zami were staring at a low total when Sherfane Rutherford decided to take matters in his hand. The 22-year-old Guyanaes hit 56 off 40 balls, building a 23 ball 43 run partnership with Allen. 

He was eventually run out, but not before he had hit four humungous sixes and two fours. Thanks to his innings the Zalmi had more than a fighting total of 166 to defend. 

Rizwan was happy with the win, knowing very well how important it is for him and his side to win the maximum of the remaining three games to keep aiming for a Playoff birth. “We have few things to improve on like our fielding. The pitch looked good t the time of the chase so told the batsmen that if we bat deep it'll get easier with dew coming in." Talking about his limping throughout his stay at the crease, the 29-year-old said, “There's swelling in my leg around the calf. Hopefully will recover in time.” 

Well, he doesn’t have much time at hand as the Sultans next play Quetta on June 16 at the very same ground of Sheikh Zayd Stadium, Abu Dhabi. Zalmi though would be Karachi Kings in the second game of the doubleheaders on June 15 itself.

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PSL 2021 | ISU vs LHQ: Shadab Khan and Co. stage impressive comeback as Qalandars make a meal of an easy chase

If there is to be made a case for a comeback in the Pakistan Super League, the comeback by Islamabad united in game 20 of the PSL 2021 will always be among the top contender for number one. It wasn’t just one comeback in one inning, but a huge comeback in both the innings of the game and from a position, which wasn’t suitable for a comeback at all. The Lahore Qalandars deserve some mention for making a mess of all the opportunities they got in the game to lose it in the end by 28 runs. Chasing a modest target of 153 on a Shiekh Zayed wicket that didn’t support swing as much as in the last few games, the Qalandars had a desirable start with a 55 run partnership for the opening wicket. Both Fkahar Zaman and skipper Sohail Akhtar looked in great touch before the latter was removed by Fawad Ahmed on the last ball of the first powerplay. Youngster Zeeshan Ashraf was run out very soon too. However, Mohammad Hafeez joined Zaman and the Qalandars were cruising to victory under their partnership at 86-2 in 10 overs. But as they say, it’s not over till it’s over, young fast bowler Muhammad Musa made sure that the saying was held true to its course as he removed both Hafeez and Zaman in his two overs. In between them he also sent back Ben Dunk to the pavilion for a duck. Qalandars were suddenly 93-5 and in a spot of bother with their saviours from the last two games, Tim David and Rashid Khan at the crease. Shadab Khan, the United skipper had other ideas in mind as he removed both David and Rashid in the same over to break any hopes that might have been building in the Qalandars dugout. From there on, it was a matter of formality as Sheen Afridi and James Faulkner were dismissed by Ahmed in the 15th over itself. The grandeur of the comeback of United can be gauged from the fact that they took seven wickets in a span of just 14 runs and 30 balls. In the end, Haris Rauf entertained the audiences with some high flying shots but it was never going to be enough as one shot too many and a brilliant catch at the long leg boundary by Iftikhar meant that the Qalandars innings came to an end at 124. The loss did not settle well with the Qalandars skipper Sohail. Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, he said, “Our middle-order didn't take responsibility. We need to work on our death bowling. We gave away 10-15 runs more. We got a good opening partnership but lost our way in the middle.” Earlier in the evening, it was the story of the vintage Asif Ali doing what he has been known for, taking the United out of precarious situations. The middle-order batsman, who had been going through a rough patch recently, making only 99 runs in his last nine innings at a lowly average of 11.00 and losing his place in the XI in the national side, was pushed to number seven in the United lineup too. But today was the day of his redemption. At 20/5 at the end of the powerplay, Islamabad were looking down at another humbling by Lahore in the PSL but for Asif and Iftikhar’s partnership. The two veterans of the game got together and added a record 123 runs for the sixth wicket, the highest in PSL’s six years history. Asif in particular was ruthless from the very beginning, even as Iftikhar took his time to settle down. The 29-year-old completed his fifty in just 28 balls and went on to make 74, his highest score in PSL off just 43 balls at a strike rate of 174. He hit six fours and five sixes. As Asif didn’t seem like getting out to any bowler, he was hit wicket as his pads flaked the stumps while he was turning after trying to pull a ball from deep in his crease. The Faisalabad born was also adjudged Man of the match for his herculean effort. The 30-year-old partner of his missed out on his fifty, getting out for 49 in an attempt to hit some more boundaries. Faulkner was the pick of the bowlers for Lahore as he removed three players in the powerplay. With this win, United have also got to the top of the table now replacing Qalandars, although both the teams have the same points. Shadab, who was criticised for not fielding first after winning the toss said, “A decision is a final decision and if we had lost the game, I wouldn't have blamed the toss.” “But it was great to come back from difficult situations and win this match,” he added in the post-match presentation ceremony. While Lahore would come back on Tuesday to play against Quetta Gladiators, sitting at the bottom of the PSL points table, Islamabad would be in action tomorrow against last year’s champions Karachi Kings.

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Tom Latham cherishes 'fantastic achievement' against England, but focussed on big India challenge

New Zealand stand-in captain Tom Latham, who has registered his name as one of the very few Blackcaps skipper to have won a series in England, said that the achievement was long time coming and hence it is worth all the celebration form the team. He was mindful of the fact that the Blackcaps have had thier last success in England way back in 1999 and that their previous two attempts had failed although they had rich reserves of talents. "It's a fantastic achievement from the group. I think it's important that we celebrate with each other. It hasn't been done since '99. For us to come here as a group, it was about trying to play our brand of cricket and I thought we did that really well over the four days and got our rewards at the end,” Latham said in the post-match press conference. "It was about trying to do what we do really well and I thought we did. [It's] well documented that '99 was the last time we'd won here and we have been here a couple of times in recent years and haven't quite got the rewards. It's certainly an achievement that's worth celebrating." The series against England was always seen from the prism of the World Test Championship final scheduled within a week time from the second Test albeit the Blackcaps tried all they could to downplay the larger goal. Latham said that the side will take a couple of days before switching their minds over to the game against a ‘completely different’ side in India that posses ‘fantastic’ bowlers and ‘quality’ batsmen in their squad. Not only was he ware of New Zealand’ history in England but he was also mindful of India’s solitary win on their last tour of England that came in Southampton—the venue where the final of the Test Championship will be played, and hence he said that the Blackcaps will have to play their best cricket to defeat Virat Kohli-led Indian team. "They've got a fantastic set of bowlers, [and] a lot of quality batsmen that have scored runs in different conditions all round the world. They were over here a few years ago and played really well, so we know we'll have to play well to beat them. "Our focus will shift to them in a couple of days. The preparation has been great but it's important that we do shift our focus and adapt to a completely different side." New Zealand made as many as six changes keeping in mind the tight schedule on the tour and the big game and the big players such as the skipper Kane Williamson, BJ Watling, Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson sat out of the second Test in amove that established Blackcap’s eyes on the bigger goal of the World Test Championship. Latham confirmed both Williamson and Watling, who were not fully fit for the second Test are ‘reasonably well’ on track to walk inot the playing XI for the WTC final but also commenced the six replacements such as Matt Henry, Ajaz Patel, Will Young for cashing in on the opportunities which he conceded has been tought to get over a long period fot time. "It was amazing from a personnel change of six guys. That hasn't happened for a long time in this group and it has been a hard team to crack into. For all those guys to get that opportunity - Will Young, Matt Henry, Ajaz Patel - was fantastic. They performed their roles really well,” Latham said. "[Watling and Williamson] are travelling reasonably well. It was important for them to get a little bit of rest in order to be fully fit heading into next week. Fingers crossed we'll have a fully-fit squad." Latham hit the winning runs against England to seal the series win but he has not been at his best with the bat in three of the four completed innings and New Zealand would rely on him to provide the team a good start against India come June 18.

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Joe Root urges 'hard conversations' after New Zealand outplayed England in 'all three departments'

England skipper Joe Root has accepted his side was outplyed in all the departments of the game by an impressive New Zealand side in a two-match long series that ended as his first series loss at home. However, he nitpicked ‘poor’ batting by his teammates as the reason behind a week that turned out to be ‘disappointing and frustrating.’ "It's been a frustrating and disappointing performance this week. I don't think we've given a fair account of ourselves. We've been outplayed in all three departments, particularly the batting. We didn't get the runs in the first innings. We missed chances in the field and didn't help our bowlers in that respect. And with the bat we were poor,” Root said. Joe Root pointed out the afternoon session on the third day of the Test when England collapsed and were staring at an innings defeat as one of those session that ‘cost’ teams a Test match and the script was not any different for his side. "Sometimes in Test cricket you can have a poor session with the ball and you're still very much in the game. But a session that like can cost you a Test. That's where we find ourselves. It's cost us the series and we have some hard lessons to learn,” Root added. Root also admitted his personal failure with the bat keeping in his mind the fact that he is the most-experienced and highest-run getter among current England batsman. He conceded his failure to lead from the front which probably had serious consequences on the outlook of the England Test side in the series against New Zealand. "As the leading run-scorer within our squad currently I feel like I've put a lot of pressure on those guys by not performing myself. As a captain you pride yourself on getting big runs and leading from the front and I've not managed to follow through on that. So I've probably compounded that situation slightly,” Root owned up his responsibility. Addressing the issue of batting that has been failing England for a long time now, Root said that the team has to have ‘constructive’ but ‘hard conversations’ with each other over the issues that plagued the team in the redent past before setting their eyes on the future targets. He also extended his confidence on the batsmen saying that all of them have established their credentials as batsmen who can churn out big runs and hence the situation is still far away from the point where all members of the team should hit the panic button. "We have to look at where we can get better individually and collectively. We need to be honest about that. We have to have some hard conversations and move forward. We have to front up, look to get better and learn some hard lessons sometimes," he said. "We've all underperformed this week. "But we have to be constructive. I think every single one of those guys has proven they can score big Test runs. I think it would be the wrong time to start panicking and trying to rip up all the hard work we've done for such a long period of time. It's something that historically we've done going into big tournaments and big Test series and it's made things even worse. Root also dismissed ‘a lot of talk’ around the faulty of techniques of England batsman and asseretd that not all successful players going around in the world bat with similar style and technique. "There's been a lot of talk about technique and batting. My view is batting is very much an individual thing. There's no right or wrong way of doing it. Look at the best players in the world: they all have different methods of how they play. How they stand, their bat paths, where they score their runs. He said batting does not fit well in the binary of ‘right or wrong way’ and instead it is more about mental capacity of an individual. He took his personal refernence once again and urged his teammates to be ‘smarter’ in negating the various aspects of the opponent a bit better than he has been able to do in his career. "For me it's more of a metal thing. It's about clarity in their own game and managing passages of play. Managing different bowlers, different angles and conditions and doing that consistently well over an innings and a series. We can be a little bit smarter on occasions. It's somewhere that throughout my career I've got that horribly wrong on occasions,” Root said. England Test players will have to wait until the first week of August to redeem themselves after the series loss to New Zealand. However, the task is unlikely to be any simpler for them against Virat Kohli-led Indian side that posses quality pacers and spinners capable of challenging them throughout the series.