HBL PSL 2024: Van der Dussen ton in vain as Zalmi keep Qalandars winless
In Lahore, despite displaying determination and resilience at the Gaddafi Stadium on Sunday evening, Rassie van der Dussen ended up stuck at the non-striker’s end when he should have been positioned at the striker’s end.
The South African player had put up a strong fight to bring his team, Lahore Qalandars, within reach of their inaugural victory in the ninth edition of the HBL Pakistan Super League. He achieved this feat by scoring an outstanding century against Peshawar Zalmi.
Despite his remarkable performance throughout the match, van der Dussen only had the opportunity to face one delivery in the last over, during which the Qalandars required 18 runs to win. Making what could be considered the poorest decision of his innings, the South African, who remained unbeaten with 104 runs off 52 balls, opted to take a single on the second ball.
After all of van der Dussen’s efforts, he witnessed his teammates Jahandad Khan and Sikandar Raza getting dismissed on consecutive deliveries by pacer Paul Walter. The match concluded with Carlos Brathwaite hitting a straight six to seal the victory for Zalmi by eight runs, rendering van der Dussen’s earlier single inconsequential.
The defending champions, Qalandars, found themselves unable to kickstart their campaign successfully despite winning two consecutive titles. They now risk missing out on a spot in the playoffs due to challenges such as captain Shaheen Shah Afridi’s declining performance, Haris Rauf’s absence due to injury, and the unavailability of key bowler Rashid Khan.
On Sunday night, Lahore Qalandars faced a barrage of runs as Peshawar Zalmi piled up a formidable total of 211-4. This impressive score was fueled by Saim Ayub’s explosive innings of 88 runs off 55 balls, along with significant contributions from captain Babar Azam (48 runs off 36 balls) and Rovman Powell (46 runs off 20 balls).
Lahore’s batting performance was considerably improved, largely thanks to van der Dussen, who maintained composure and controlled the chase almost flawlessly. However, their downfall occurred in the final over.
Lahore suffered early setbacks with the dismissals of openers Sahibzada Farhan and Fakhar Zaman. However, van der Dussen’s partnership with Shai Hope helped them reach a score of 56-2 by the conclusion of the powerplay.
Following three overs devoid of boundaries, Lahore finally struck one in the 10th over, bringing the scoreboard to 84-2 at the halfway mark. Van der Dussen and Hope continued their efforts to establish a partnership.
In the 11th over, Hope achieved the pair’s fifty by hitting a six over square leg off Walter. Shortly after, van der Dussen reached his own half-century by hitting Walter for another six, followed by a boundary.
As Lahore required 110 runs to win off 54 balls, the pressure began to build. Babar decided to bring back pacer Salman Irshad, who bowled a full delivery that resulted in Hope being bowled out for 29 runs off 23 balls in the 13th over.
However, van der Dussen remained resolute, understanding the significance of his presence at the crease. In the 16th over, he hit Salman for a six over fine-leg, while Ahsan Hafeez contributed with a boundary in the same over. In the following over, van der Dussen attempted another six but witnessed Naveen dismissing Ahsan at the opposite end.
Despite the setback, Jahandad remained resilient and boosted his team’s morale. Utilizing his strong wrists and benefiting from a stroke of luck, he managed to hit Salman for three boundaries in the 18th over.
Van der Dussen reached his century by smashing a massive shot over midwicket off a full toss delivered by Wood. Prior to this, he had hit the English bowler for a boundary, setting the stage for the final over. However, despite his remarkable effort, it ultimately did not lead to a victory for his team.
After being chosen to bat first by Shaheen, Peshawar got off to a rapid start, reaching 57-0 by the conclusion of the powerplay. Babar and Saim showcased their elegant stroke play, hitting the ball to various parts of the ground with finesse.
In the seventh over, Saim scored the first six of the innings by lofting Raza’s off-spin over deep midwicket. By the halfway point of their innings, Zalmi were comfortably positioned at 90-0, indicating a smooth sailing for them.
Saim reached his fifty in 36 deliveries by hitting Mohammad Imran for another six over wide-long on. The 21-year-old displayed exceptional skill when he executed an inside-out off-drive to send pacer Brathwaite for his fourth maximum. Shortly after, Babar was caught by Sikandar in the deep, marking Shaheen’s and the Qalandars’ first wicket of the match.
Upon Rovman Powell’s arrival at the crease, he made sure that Peshawar took full advantage of their explosive beginning. Within eight balls, Powell struck three boundaries and two sixes, accumulating 27 runs. Notably, four of these hits occurred in Imran’s 16th over.
Lahore experienced some positive moments, albeit occurring quite late in the game during Shaheen’s 18th over. The left-arm bowler began by dismantling Saim’s leg stump with a yorker, resulting in his dismissal. Following this, some aggressive strokes by Asif Ali and Mohammad Haris propelled Peshawar to a formidable total.
SCOREBOARD
Multan Sultans v Quetta Gladiators
MULTAN SULTANS:
Batters & modes of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR
Mohammad Rizwan c Saud b Hosein 51 42 2 4 121.42
Usman Khan st Sarfraz b Abrar 14 7 3 0 200.00
R. Hendricks c Wasim b Amir 72 47 7 4 153.19
Tayyab Tahir not out 35 22 4 1 159.09
Iftikhar Ahmed c sub b Amir 0 1 0 0 0.00
Khushdil Shah not out 1 1 0 0 100.00
EXTRAS (B-1, W-6) 7
TOTAL (for four wickets, 20 overs) 180
DID NOT BAT: D. Willey, Usama Mir, Aftab Ibrahim, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ali
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-22 (Usman), 2-101 (Rizwan), 3-178 (Hendricks), 4-178 (Iftikhar)
BOWLING: Hosein 4-0-30-1 (2w), Amir 4-0-46-2 (4w), Abrar 4-0-35-1, Usman 4-0-27-0, Wasim 4-0-41-0
QUETTA GLADIATORS:
Batters & modes of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR
J. Roy b Ali 12 15 1 1 80.00
Saud Shakeel c Usama b Willey 24 13 4 1 184.61
Khawaja Nafay c Usman b Ali 36 31 2 2 116.12
R. Rossouw c Khushdil b Aftab 30 18 1 2 166.66
Sajjad Ali c Rizwan b Usama 2 2 0 0 100.00
S. Rutherford c & b Willey 21 14 0 2 150.00
A. Hosein not out 9 13 0 0 69.23
Mohammad Wasim c Aftab b Willey 1 2 0 0 50.00
Mohammad Amir b Ali 12 8 2 0 150.00
Abrar Ahmed b Aftab 12 6 1 1 200.00
EXTRAS (LB-3, NB-2, W-3) 8
TOTAL (for nine wickets, 20 overs) 167
DID NOT BAT: Usman Tariq
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-16 (Roy), 2-42 (Saud), 3-104 (Rossouw), 4-107 (Sajjad), 5-124 (Nafay), 6-134 (Rutherford), 7-136 (Wasim), 8-152 (Amir), 9-167 (Abrar)
BOWLING: Ali 4-1-19-3, Willey 4-0-37-3, Abbas 4-0-33-0 (1w, 2nb), Usama 4-0-34-1, Aftab 3-0-26-2, Iftikhar 1-0-15-0
TOSS: Quetta Gladiators
RESULT: Multan Sultans won by 13 runs.
Peshawar Zalmi v Lahore Qalandars
PESHAWAR ZALMI:
Batters & modes of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR
Saim Ayub b Shaheen 88 55 8 4 160.00
Babar Azam c Raza b Shaheen 48 36 5 0 133.33
R. Powell c Fakhar b Jahandad 46 20 5 2 230.00
Asif Ali c Fakhar b Shaheen 6 3 0 1 200.00
Mohammad Haris not out 12 5 1 1 240.00
P. Walter not out 2 1 0 0 200.00
EXTRAS (LB-2, W-7) 9
TOTAL (for four wickets, 20 overs) 211
DID NOT BAT: Haseebullah Khan, L. Wood, Naveen-ul-Haq, Salman Irshad, Arif Yaqoob
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-136 (Babar), 2-175 (Saim), 3-181 (Asif), 4-209 (Powell)
BOWLING: Shaheen 4-0-33-3 (1w), Zaman 4-0-48-0 (4w), Ahsan 1-0-11-0, Imran 3-0-41-0, Raza 2-0-20-0, Brathwaite 4-0-34-0 (1w), Jahandad 2-0-22-1 (1w)
LAHORE QALANDARS:
Batters & modes of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR
Sahibzada Farhan c Haseebullah b Naveen 15 12 3 0 125.00
Fakhar Zaman b Wood 4 8 0 0 50.00
R. van der Dussen not out 104 52 7 6 200.00
S. Hope b Salman 29 23 1 1 126.08
Ahsan Hafeez c Saim b Naveen 20 13 3 0 153.84
Jahandad Khan c Babar b Walter 13 9 3 0 144.44
S. Raza run out (Saim) 1 1 0 0 100.00
C. Brathwaite not out 6 2 0 1 300.00
EXTRAS (LB-3, W-8) 11
TOTAL (for six wickets, 20 overs) 203
DID NOT BAT: Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Imran, Zaman Khan
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-17 (Farhan), 2-38 (Fakhar), 3-109 (Hope), 4-164 (Ahsan), 5-196 (Jahandad), 6-197 (Raza)
BOWLING: Saim 1-0-3-0, Wood 4-0-46-1 (1w), Naveen 4-0-50-2 (4w), Walter 4-0-41-1 (1w), Arif 3-0-21-0, Salman 4-0-39-1 (2w)
TOSS: Lahore Qalandars
RESULT: Peshawar Zalmi won by eight runs.
