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Asghar, Riaz bowl Peshawar Zalmi to 24-run victory

by Sandeep Shivam Friday 5 February 2016

Wahab Riaz (centre) picked three wickets including that of Shane Watson (left).

©REUTERS / Action Images

Peshawar Zalmi 145-7 (Iqbal 51) beat
Islamabad United 121-9 (Asghar 3-20) by 24 runs
Third match, Pakistan Super League, Dubai
Scorecard

Mohammad Asghar and Wahab Riaz picked three-wicket hauls as Peshawar Zalmi started their campaign with a 24-run victory over Islamabad United while defending 145 in the third game of the Pakistan Super League in Dubai.

Peshawar Zalmi won the toss and surprisingly decided to bat first. After a wayward first over from Andre Russell (3-31), Mohammad Hafeez (11) was caught behind in the second over from Shane Watson (1-37).

Peshawar Zalmi lost the wicket of David Malan (6) in the sixth over to end at a score of 34 for two in the powerplay.

Saeed Ajmal (1-19) tied one end down and got rewarded with the wicket of Kamran Akmal (8) leaving the Zalmis reeling at 58 for three at the half-way mark.

Tamim Iqbal (51) stepped up the accelerator with a six and a four in the 11th over but Shahid Yousuf (16) struggled to get going at the other end.

Shahid Afridi (16) got off the mark with a boundary and the 17th over of the innings from Watson yielded 18 runs with Iqbal scoring couple of boundaries followed by a six from Afridi.

Iqbal reached his fifty off 50 deliveries but Peshawar Zalmis lost three wickets in the next two overs and was restricted to 145 for seven in the 20 overs.

Shaun Tait (2-24) produced a shocking first over conceding 14 runs but managed to knock on Sharjeel Khan (8) in it.

Watson (28) struck three more boundaries in the second over from Junaid Khan (0-30) as Islamabad United reached 26 for one after two overs.

That's when Peshawar Zalmi managed to pull the game back with a double strike from Asghar (3-20) to dismiss Babar Azam (0) and Umar Amin (4).

Riaz (3-23) continued his battle with Watson with a series of short pitch deliveries and eventually had him caught at point while Asghar deceived Misbah ul Haq (12) to leave Islamabad in a spot of bother at 66 for five in 11 overs.

Sam Billings (26) and Russell (12) looked to counter-attack in their brief 33-run partnership but Riaz came back for his final spell and removed both off successive deliveries with Islamabad United needing 39 runs off 18 deliveries.

Islamabad managed to score only 121 losing nine wickets in their 20 wickets thereby succumbing to a 24-run defeat. Asghar was awarded the man of the match for his match-changing three wickets.