Babar Azam-led Peshawar Zalmi failed to get off the mark in the 2024 edition of the PSL as they lost their second consecutive game, on 21st February.
Once again, Babar Azam played a good knock, becoming the fastest and youngest ever to breach the 10,000-run mark in T20 cricket, but he just did not get any support from his fellow batters.
The PSL 5 champions, Karachi Kings, got their first win under the leadership of their new skipper, Shan Masood. Mir Hamza was the pick of the bowlers for Karachi Kings, while it was Kieron Pollard who played a swashbuckling innings at the end.
On that note, let us look at 3 reasons why Peshawar Zalmi lost against Karachi Kings
(1)Batters failing to support Babar Azam
Not getting support from other batters in the side is one thing Babar Azam must be habitual to by now. The same old story repeated itself once again as three out of Peshawar Zalmi’s top 4 batters failed miserably.
Saim Ayub fell prey to the very experienced Shoaib Malik on the very first ball of the game, while Mohammad Haris was dismissed soon after in the fourth over.
A couple of overs later, Tom Kohler-Cadmore was knocked over by an absolute peach from Hassan Ali. Babar Azam’s side, at 40-3, found themselves in a spot of bother.
Rovman Powell looked good and his partnership with Babar Azam started to show promise, but the former was dismissed in the 13th over trying to play a reverse-sweep, which many would say was not required at that stage.
Asif Ali also scored a handy 23 runs off 16 balls, but that just was not enough.
Babar Azam kept losing partners at the other end, while he stood tall, scoring an excellent 72 off 51 deliveries.
He struck at over 140 despite having to deal with quick wickets every now and then, doing justice to his reputation. It was a fighting knock, but in vain as his side managed to score a modest 154.
(2)Smart and accurate bowling from the Karachi Kings pacers
The pace trio of Mir Hamza, Hassan Ali and Daniel Sams was right on the money for Karachi Kings. Mir Hamza got rid of the dangerous Mohammad Haris early on, while he got Aamer Jamal and Babar Azam in the same over towards the end of the innings. He finished with figures of 3-28, and conceded just 3 boundaries in his spell.
Daniel Sams was phenomenal with his variations. He used his slow off-cutters to perfection, and was super economical at the death. He finished with figures of 2-28.
Hassan Ali looked like he was back to his very best, picking up 3 wickets in his spell. In the post-match conference, he himself admitted that he has not been bowling to his maximum potential for quite some time now, but he felt like he was in good rhythm today.
It was evident that the Karachi Kings pacers had some plans for each batter, and they executed those plans with great precision. They targeted the stumps in the death overs, while they bowled off-cutters into the pitch against batters who were looking to go big throughout the innings.
3)Lack of regular wickets
The Peshawar Zalmi bowlers did not have a lot to bowl at, but they still could have made a game out of it with some early wickets.
Luke Wood bowled a wicket-maiden in the third over of the innings, and ended with figures of 2 for 9 in his three overs in the powerplay.
However, the young Mohammad Zeeshan failed to contain the flow of runs, and released all the pressure that Luke Wood was building from the other end. A 19-run over right after Luke Wood’s wicket-maiden shifted the momentum towards the Karachi Kings.
With just 155 to defend, wickets were the need of the hour for Peshawar Zalmi. Those 4-run overs were not going to help considering the kind of batting depth possessed by Karachi Kings.
An absolute ripper from Waqar Salamkheil helped them get rid of Shoaib Malik, but it was probably too late since he had already stitched up a 51-run stand with James Vince.
Kieron Pollard, coming in at number 5, picked the bones out of anything that was in his arc.
He came out all guns blazing, and took Waqar Salamkheil to the cleaners, hitting the left-arm wrist spinner from Afghanistan for 34 runs off the 11 deliveries he faced from him.
A 21-ball 49 from Kieron Pollard took the game away fron Peshawar Zalmi, but that was always on the cards since the bowlers failed to strike regularly.
Defending a fairly low total, they needed wickets in quick succession, but that did not happen for them. Whether it was due to the lack of wicket-taking deliveries or due to the absence of attacking fields is for Babar Azam to decide.