PSL4 2nd day is Akmal Brother’s Day, Misbah proved he “Age is just a number game nothing else”

Pakistan Super league second day was not good for the Multan Sultans as they lost the gripped match against Islamabad United because of their bad planning, while Quetta Gladiators won the match with brilliance of 75 runs on 50 balls by Umar Akmal.

the first match between Multan Sultans and Karachi Kings on the record book with the PSL history highest opening partnership of 157 runs between Babar Azam 77 and Livingstone 82 runs on 41 deliveries.

Multan Sultans who were chasing 184 runs have their best inning of Shoeb Malik 52 runs in which he made 21 runs in an over but they couldn’t manage the Run rate and finish their inning on 176/9.

The 2nd match between Peshawar Zalmi and Twice runners-up Quetta Gladiators who won the battle of arch-rivals with a convincing six-wicket win in their opening game to get a kick start to their campaign for the elusive title in Dubai.

Sarfraz Ahmed-led Quetta restricted Peshawar to 155-4 in their 20 overs after sending them into bat on a day.

Former Pakistan batsman Umar Akmal then smashed 50-ball 75 not out with three sixes and seven fours to steer Quetta Gladiators to a comfortable chase in the 19.4 overs, for the fifth win over rivals in eleven matches. Peshawar have also won five head-to-head matches with one no result in three editions of the HBL PSL.

Sarfraz Ahmed attributed the win to a team work.

“Overall it was a team performance,” said Sarfraz. “We bowled well to restrict them to 155-4 and then Umar played a brilliant knock, so I am very happy at that.”

Peshawar captain Darren Sammy said his team did not put a big total on the board.

“We didn’t get enough runs but did well to take the match to the last over,” said Sammy. “It was just the first game and we reached final both times after losing the first game, so we need to lift ourselves in the next game.”

Umar led Quetta’s recovery after they were off to a disastrous start, losing another former Pakistan opener Ahmed Shehzad leg before to Hasan Ali on the first ball of their innings.

Shane Watson hit two boundaries and a towering six in his 15-ball 19 and Rilee Rossouw made 14-ball 19 with three boundaries but both wasted good starts to leave the repair work to Umar.

Umar smashed a boundary and a six each off pacers Sameen Gul and Umaid Asif to show his intentions. He added 62 for the fourth wicket with skipper Sarfraz who made 29-ball 37 with a six and three boundaries.

Paceman Wahab Riaz dismissed Sarfraz to become the first bowler to complete 50 wickets in HBL PSL history. The milestone came in his 33rd match, as he finished with 2-18.

Umar smashed Kieron Pollard for a towering six towards long-on to bring up the victory.

Umar’s elder brother Kamran did the same for his team Peshawar. Kamran was the helm of a repair work after a faltering Peshawar start, losing West Indian Andre Fletcher in the third over of the innings for just one. Kamran added 64 for the second wicket with another Pakistan discard Sohaib Maqsood who made 29-ball 26 with two sixes and a boundary.

Therefore the 2nd day of 4th edition of PSL is no doubt “Akmal Brotehr’s day”.

On day three of the HBL PSL title holders Islamabad United — who won their first match by five wickets against Lahore Qalandars on Thursday — face Multan while Karachi kings square off with Lahore in a battle of two big cities in Dubai on Saturday.  

Adrees Malik is a Sport Journalist based in Lahore you can write for him on Twitter @AdreesMalik