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Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2020

PSL among world’s top T20 leagues, says Hashim Amla

March 04, 2020

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HASHIM Amla


RAWALPINDI: Who has been the most self-effacing among all international cricketers of the 21st Century? The answer to this query is probably simple because the majority would definitely cast their votes in favour of former batting great Hashim Amla.

After announcing retirement from the international arena last August just weeks following his country’s embarrassing preliminary-round exit from the ICC World Cup, Amla has been busy globetrotting across various franchise-based leagues.

The affable South Africa legend — who turns 37 on March 31 — has been engaged by 2017 Pakistan Super League champion side Peshawar Zalmi as their batting mentor for the ongoing fifth edition.

In an exclusive interview with Dawn, Amla candidly speaks of challenges of the PSL V during his current trip to Pakistan, and reminiscent about the glittering international career.

“I was at the Bangladesh Premier League when Mohammad Akram [Peshawar Zalmi head coach] relayed a message whether I could join the team as role of batting mentor. Personally I felt it would be a good opportunity for me to see what PSL is like and grow both as a person and a player-cum-coach, albeit initially as a player but in the end the offer acceptable to me was to become the batting mentor,” Amla said. “The reason I wanted to be part [of PSL] to keep working on my skills because I’m still playing in different leagues.”

Commenting the Peshawar Zalmi squad, Amla observed: “It is a wonderful squad and in terms of experience, we’ve got some fantastic players such as Shoaib Malik and [Darren] Sammy and good crop of youngsters too there.

“Haider Ali is an exceptionally talented young guy. And then we have Imam-ul-Haq against whom I played quite a few times and Umar Amin, who is not a newcomer but still a very good batsman, plus a few others young Pakistani exciting players. I’m really enjoying working with them. I think we got a good nucleus and Peshawar Zalmi can go all the way since they had been doing very well [in reaching three finals on the trot] and have good history to back them.”

Amla singled out Tom Banton as a quality player among the foreign contingent and rated the 21-year-old from English county Buckinghamshire town of Chiltern as a very good signing by the franchise.

“He’s bound to get better and better. I played against Tom during the T10 league in Abu Dhabi recently and he is a fantastic sensation who is capable of big things because he has all the shots to be successful at the top level. On top of that, we’ve Liam Livingstone and Liam Dawson. So I think we got a fantastic squad at our disposal,” he asserted. “Our bowling is equally well-balanced with Wahab [Riaz] and Hasan [Ali] leading the attack and also picked several young bowlers [Mohammad Amir Khan and Aamir Ali] as well. I’m really enjoying with all of them.”

Amla is all praise for the PSL, while putting it among the topmost leagues. “In terms of standard of cricket it is definitely among the top leagues because all teams here are pretty strong on paper and have superstars. I would say PSL is among the top three [leagues] in the world and can easily be classified alongside the IPL and the MSL [Mzansi Super League] in South Africa. And on paper the bowling standard seen in PSL is probably the highest and very competitive. From the crowd prospective also, PSL is simply amazing because the fans here are not only very passionate about cricket but also extremely knowledgeable too.

“Another thing I must add here is that Pakistan has a great heritage of having fantastic bowlers over a long period [of time] and in this PSL every team have got international bowlers who are exciting to watch.

“It is great to see international coming back to Pakistan gradually and PSL has been one reason behind it and now entire league being played in the country is a prove that Pakistan is a very safe place [to tour] for cricketers from other countries.”

Amla, who was a wristy right-handed batsman, has a plethora of records under belt. No player in the history of One-day International (ODI) cricket has managed the remarkable feat of being the quickest in the terms of innings to the landmarks of 2,000 (40 innings), 3,000 (59), 4,000 (81), 5,000 (101), 6,000 (123) and 7,000 (150), while only Virat Kohli has reached 8,000 ODI runs quicker than Amla.

Amla is the second most run-getter for South Africa at the highest level after the great all-rounder Jacques Kallis with 9,282 runs from 124 matches at an average of 46.64, while his 28 centuries are next best after 45 amassed by Kallis.

No South African has made a Test triple century barring Amla, while he is the third all-time leading batsman from the Rainbow Nation in ODIs with a tally of 8,113 runs in 181 games.

Recalling his times with South Africa and pinpoint the best innings he played and the best bowlers he encountered, Amla pointed it was a blessing that his country was doing consistently well in international cricket.

“When I think of the past, I must say that Alhamdillah we were winning more matches than we lost during the peak days [of my career]. South Africa embarked on big tours to Australia, England and India and performed very well in terms of results. We went to Australia in 2008, 2012 and 2016. To win three [Test] series Down Under gave an unbelievable feeling to all of us because these types of results don’t come to many teams.

“It was by far the highlight of my career to be involved on those tours and be part of a very good winning team and got opportunities to be played alongside some amazing cricketers like Kallis and [Graeme] Smith, who without any doubt was the best captain I played under. He was tactically very good and was excellent in man-management skills.

“Among the Test knocks I would rate 311 against England [at The Oval] and 196 versus Australia [at the WACA in Perth] both in 2012 as the probably best because both helped South Africa win the series. The finest ODI innings, perhaps, was the one [129 against the West Indies] at Roseau in Dominica during May 2010 when the conditions were very tough because it was very oppressing under the hot sun. And the [unbeaten] 97 against Australia at Cape Town in 2016 was also very special.

“The most difficult bowler I’d ever played against was Mohammad Asif. Not express like some others but Asif was the best seamer I faced because his control was amazing and the line phenomenal. And the best spinner was [Muttiah] Muralitharan because I had no idea which way ball would spin!”

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2020
 
Sammy named new head coach of Peshawar Zalmi

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Peshawar Zalmi has appointed West Indian cricketer and Peshawar Zalmi stalwart Darren Sammy the new head coach of the club. Wahab Riaz will now lead the team, according to a statement from Zalmi.

The swashbuckling all-rounder, who has been playing for the "Yellow Storm" since the very first edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) was appointed the head coach of the club.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Akram has been appointed the new bowling coach as well as Director Cricket of the club.

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18th match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2020 at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, on Thursday March 5, 2020.

SCORECARD


Peshawar Zalmi
171/6 (15.0 OVERS)

Quetta Gladiators 140/7 (15.0 OVERS)



Peshawar Zalmi win by 30 runs.

...
 
Peshawar Zalmi defeat Islamabad United by 7 runs on DLS
Dawn.com

March 07, 2020

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Peshawar Zalmi's Rahat Ali (pictured third left) celebrates after dismissing Islamabad United's Luke Ronchi during their PSL 2020 match on Sunday. — AFP
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Peshwar Zalmi won the toss and elected to field against Islamabad United in their Pakistan Super League 2020 match at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Saturday. — DawnNewsTV

Peshawar Zalmi on Saturday defeated two-time former champions Islamabad United by seven runs on Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method after their match at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium was cut short because of rain.

Zalmi were 85 for two after nine overs — seven runs ahead of the par score — in their chase of 196 when the players had to walk off the field due to rain.

Earlier, Peshawar Zalmi had won the toss and elected to field against Islamabad United.



Islamabad United innings

Islamabad United set a respectable 196-run target for Peshawar Zalmi to chase. Luke Ronchi and Colin Munro opened the innings for the home team, which lost its first wicket early on as Wahab Riaz caught Ronchi's hit on Rahat Ali's ball.

Rizwan Hussain was bowled out in the fifth over by a Hassan Ali yorker. Shadab Khan and Munro's partnership brought much-needed stability to the United team as they scored safe runs and occasional boundaries to drive up the score to 100 at the end of nine overs.

Munro got caught out on Carlos Braithewaite's ball shortly after scoring a fifty. Shadab and Ingram's partnership over the next six overs gathered a respectable 76 runs for the team.

Ingram got out on the last ball of the 18th over when his strike on Hasan Ali's ball was caught by Livingstone. Shadab lost his wicket in the next over.



Peshawar Zalmi innings

Imamul Haq and Kamran Akmal opened the innings for Zalmi, with Akmal hitting four fours and a six to score 37 runs off 21 balls before getting caught out in the seventh over.

Imamul Haq got caught out in the fifth over on Rumman Raees' ball. Tom Banton took his place on the pitch.

Banton and Haider Ali were batting at 20 off 16 and 16 off eight when the match was cut short because of rain.



Teams:

Islamabad United:
Shadab Khan*, L Ronchi, C Munro, CA Ingram, Asif Ali, Rizwan Hussain, Faheem Ashraf, Zafar Gohar, Akif Javed, DW Steyn, Rumman Raees


Peshawar Zalmi:
Wahab Riaz*, Kamran Akmal, Imam-ul-Haq, T Banton, Haider Ali, Shoaib Malik, LS Livingstone, CR Brathwaite, Hasan Ali, Yasir Shah, Rahat Ali
 
Lahore Qalandars crush Quetta Gladiators by eight wickets in PSL 2020 fixture


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Lahore Qalandars´ Samit Patel (R) celebrates the dismissal of Quetta Gladiators´ Azam Khan (2R) during the PSL 2020 at the Gaddafi Cricket Stadium on March 7, 2020. — AFP / Arif Ali


LAHORE: Lahore Qalandars, a side which has so far been struggling in the PSL 2020 tournament, crushed Quetta Gladiators by eight wickets at the Gaddafi Stadium on Saturday.

Qalandars' Samit Patel emerged as the star of the match and was aptly awarded 'Player of the Match' for his four-wicket haul with merely five runs conceded which proved instrumental in restricting the Gladiators' total to 98-9.

The Qalandars had won the toss and sent the Gladiators to bat first.

During the Gladiators' innings, Sohail Khan posted the greatest total (32 off 35 balls).

Zahid Mahmood scored 19, while Mohammad Nawaz racked up 10.

Shane Watson, Azam Khan, and Ben Cutting were all shockingly out for a duck.

For their part the Qalandars batsmen put up better totals with opener Fakhar Zaman scoring 20, Mohammad Hafeez 39 and Ben Dunk 30.

The side swiftly chased the 99-run target in 11.5 overs at the loss of only two wickets, both picked up the Gladiators' Mohammad Nawaz.

Despite their victory, the Qalandars are still placed at the bottom of the table, however having a total of four points instead of the previous two.

The Gladiators are placed just a position above them with six points.


Line-ups

Lahore Qalandars:


Fakhar Zaman, DJ Vilas†, Mohammad Hafeez, BR Dunk, SR Patel, Sohail Akhtar*, D Wiese, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Salman Irshad, Dilbar Hussain, Raja Farzan

Quetta Gladiators
:

JJ Roy, SR Watson, Ahmed Shehzad, Azam Khan, Sarfaraz Ahmed*†, BCJ Cutting, Mohammad Nawaz (3), Sohail Khan, Zahid Mahmood, Fawad Ahmed, Mohammad Hasnain
 
Lahore Qalandars stun the Kings with spectacular 8-wicket win in PSL contest
Dawn.com
Updated March 08, 2020

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Lahore Qalandars's Sohail Akhtar (R) plays a shot as Karachi Kings's wicketkeeper Chadwick Waltaon

looks on during the T20 cricket match between Karachi Kings and Lahore Qalandars at the Gaddafi Cricket Stadium in Lahore on March 8, 2020. — AFP


Lahore Qalandars collected their third victory on Sunday of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2020 season as they defeated the Karachi Kings by eight wickets at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium.

The Qalandars conveniently chased the 188-run target and 190 runs for the loss of just two wickets with five balls to spare. Ben Dunk's 99-run knock off 40 balls was the highlight of the evening.


PakistanSuperLeague

✔@thePSLt20

https://twitter.com/thePSLt20/status/1236708946397798401

KARACHI GOT SLAM DUNKED#HBLPSLV #LQvKK



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1:42 PM - Mar 8, 2020
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The winners got off to a poor start while chasing a 188-run target set by the Kings and lost opener Fakhar Zaman in the first over on a delivery by Mohammad Amir.


PakistanSuperLeague

✔@thePSLt20

https://twitter.com/thePSLt20/status/1236683814388277253

AMIR-ACLE!

What a gorgeous delivery to get rid of Fakhar!

Play & win cash prizes: http://bit.ly/2PDpnsa #LQvKK #HBLPSL




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Sohail Akhtar, who remained not out with 68 off 46 balls, was one of the stars of today's match as he first built a 48-run partnership with Mohammad Hafeez (16). After Hafeez walked off in the ninth over, Akhtar built a 140-run stand with Dunk.

With an impressive knock of 80 runs off 48 balls, Alex Hales was the top scorer for Karachi Kings.
 
Multan Sultans inflict crushing 9-wicket defeat on Islamabad United
Dawn.com
March 08, 2020


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Multan Sultans player Imran Tahir celebrates after taking the wicket of Islamabad United's Shadab Khan. — Photo courtesy Multan Sultans Twitter

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Multan Sultans won the toss and chose to field first against Islamabad United in their Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2020 fixture at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Sunday. — Photo courtesy Pakistan Cricket Board

James Vince's incredible batting, including a half-century off 20 balls and five consecutive fours, easily accumulated runs for the Multan Sultans, allowing them to chase their target of 92 in slightly more than six overs and inflict a crushing defeat on two-time former champions Islamabad United in their Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2020 match at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

The fixture was reduced to nine overs each because of the rainy weather.

Multan Sultans won the toss and invited the home team to bat first. None of the players from United could put up an impressive performance as Luke Ronchi got out just three overs in, scoring 18 runs before Rilee Rossouw's catch on Junaid Khan's ball sent him back to the pavilion.

Colin Munro hit three consecutive sixes during the next over before he was caught out on Imran Tahir's ball in the fifth over. United lost four more wickets during the next three overs as Colin Ingram got out after scoring only six runs and captain Shadab Khan hit the ball towards the deep end only to be caught by MM Ali.

Asif Ali and Rizwan Hussain both lost their wickets to Junaid Khan's spectacular bowling spell. Amad Butt played it safe during the last over of the innings but was run out on the last ball.

Vince and Zeeshan Ashraf's high-scoring opening partnership for Multan Sultans gathered 68 runs for the team before Ashraf was caught out in the sixth over on Shadab Khan's ball. However, Vince's spectacular 61-run streak helped the Sultans to their fifth win of the tournament.

The Sultans had only lost one wicket at the end of their innings.


Teams:

Islamabad United:

Shadab Khan (c), L Ronchi, C Munro, Rizwan Hussain, CA Ingram, Asif Ali, Muhammad Musa, Amad Butt, Akif Javed, DW Steyn, Rumman Raees

Multan Sultans:

Shan Masood (c), MM Ali, Zeeshan Ashraf, RR Rossouw, JM Vince, Khushdil Shah, Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Ilyas, Imran Tahir, Junaid Khan
 
Lahore Qalandar thrashed Karachi Kings, it hurt so bad, never seen hitting in a match as did Ben Dunk did.

Ben Dunk took Karachi for smoking cleaners, one of a life time performance by Lahore Qalandar Ben Dunk, just brilliant.

Broken the back of Karachi, it hit them really hard. All the Karachi fans have gone into hiding after defeat from Lahore Qalandar, one of the greatest matches of all time.
 
Lahore Qalandar thrashed Karachi Kings, it hurt so bad, never seen hitting in a match as did Ben Dunk did.

Ben Dunk took Karachi for smoking cleaners, one of a life time performance by Lahore Qalandar Ben Dunk, just brilliant.

Broken the back of Karachi, it hit them really hard. All the Karachi fans have gone into hiding after defeat from Lahore Qalandar, one of the greatest matches of all time.
Not to be insensitive to any Karachi fans , but this match was a cracker!!! And Dunk really went berserk!! One of the best T20 matches I've watched in a long time.
 
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