Islamabad United (Wins) vs Peshawar Zalmi Extended Highlights PSL 2017 Match 1

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• published: 10 Feb 2017
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Islamabad United wins by 7 wickets Islamabad United's Shane Watson was on fire as he hit successive boundaries to lead his team to victory over Peshawar Zalmi. The winning boundary of the match was hit by Sam Billings in the first match of the Pakistan Super League. Under pressure, Zalmi gave away extras and pitched some terrible deliveries which were punished promptly by United's batsmen. Watson was supported on the crease by Dwayne Smith who made 55 off 49 balls. Smith was caught on a ball by Junaid Khan, but the duo had cemented United's run rate. United were inching towards their target of 173, with a score of 139 runs with three overs to go in the opening match of the Pakistan Super League. The team made 100 runs at the end of the 11th over for the loss of one wicket. Due to the brief pause in the game, the target has been reduced to 173 runs and similarly overs have been reduced to 18. Brad Haddin anchored the innings for United but was caught behind by Kamran Akmal off a ball by Chris Jordan. United were 81 for the loss of one wicket at the end of the 10th over and were chasing a target of 191. The teams had resumed play after briefly stopping due to heavy drizzle which had forced the ground staff to cover the pitch. During play, United had steadied their innings after losing Sharjeel Khan at the start of the second over, and were 56 for the loss of one at the end of the 7th over in the opening match of the Pakistan Super League. United, chasing a target of 191, made a ferocious start with hitting 14 off the first over. Openers Sharjeel Khan and Dwayne Smith built up the confidence of United. Khan fell off a delivery by Hassan Ali and was declared leg before, he had a strike rate of 25. Zalmi's innings Peshwar Zalmi made 190 runs at the end of their innings after getting off to a shaky start, with Akmal stabilising the innings with his blistering 88. Zalmi lost three wickets in quick succession between the 15th and 17th over, and seemed to falter at 169 runs after Akmal's departure. Afridi made four runs off just as many balls, Sammy made seven off seven and Sohail made 12 runs off 14 balls. Sammy came after Akmal but was caught on a wide delivery by Irfan. Afridi took to the crease after Sammy's early departure. Malan was finally caught on a ball by Watson at 38. English T20 captain joined Akmal on the crease after his departure. Morgan was bowled on a tricky delivery by Ajmal, and he had to look back and confirm his bails were off. Peshawar Zalmi reached the 150-run mark in 15 overs, helped by a blistering performance by Kamran Akmal who made 88 runs off 47 balls. Zalmi had posted 100 run is less than 10 overs after losing a wicket on the first ball of the match. Hafeez was caught behind off a ball by Irfan. The HBL PSL players list is placed here. The ball was set rolling for the second season of the Pakistan Super League with the PSL Draft that was held on October 19. Many hundred players were a part of the Draft and the five teams brought in players to their squads, apart from retaining some of the players from the previous season. There was a PSL Replacement Draft held on January 23 that allowed teams to bring in new players in place of those who decided not to play in the tournament despite being selected in the first draft because of fitness issues, rest and national commitments. Team changes were made to the Quetta Gladiators, Peshawar Zalmi and Lahore Qalandars while Karachi Kings and Islamabad United decided not to change things around because of the availability of all their cricketers. The Qalandars have let go of Dwayne Bravo, Shaun Tait and Anton Devcich, all of whom are injured, while Jason Roy, Chris Green and James Franklin have been brought into the team. Also missing out of action will be Alex Hales, Shakib al Hasan and Mohammad Shahzad which means the Peshawar Zalmi have brought in Marlon Samuels, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Samit Patel and Andre Fletcher to their team. Lastly the Quetta Gladiators have made four changes to their squad with Carlos Brathwaite, Rovman Powell, David Willey and Mohammad Nabi opting out because of different reasons. Nathan McCullum, Thisara Perera, Rilee Rossouw and Mahmudullah Riad have all been given a go in the squad. No changes were made to the Islamabad United and Karachi Kings squads.