Islamabad United vs Peshawar Zalmi | PSL 2021: Peshawar Zalmi beats Islamabad United in second eliminator to cruise into PSL Final

The second eliminator match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL 2021) was played between Islamabad United and Peshawar Zalmi in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday night. Peshawar Zalmi, who made it to the second eliminator by defeating Karachi Kings in the first eliminator of PSL 2021 on Monday night, has made it to the final after registering a win for the second day in a row. They defeated Islamabad United by 8 wickets in the second Eliminator match to seal their place in the title match, where they will now face Multan Sultans for the title on 24 June.

In the second eliminator match, Peshawar Zalmi won the toss and decided to bowl first. Coming to bat first, Islamabad United’s team lost their first wicket in the form of Usman Khawaja (1 run) on the score of one run in the very first over. However, his Kiwi opener Colin Munro took charge of his team by playing a blistering innings of 44 runs in 29 balls.

After this the middle order batsmen disappointed and all the batsmen started getting out on small scores. Then the bat of tail batsman Hasan Ali, who came to bat at number nine, thundered. Hasan Ali played a blistering innings of 45 runs in just 16 balls, hitting 3 sixes and 5 fours, on the basis of which Islamabad scored 174 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in 20 overs. During this, Umaid Asif and Wahab Riaz took 2-2 wickets for Peshawar. While Imran, Irfan and Ahmed Butt took 1-1 wickets.

To answer, Peshawar Zalmi had a target of 175 runs but once again his batsmen played like champion players. Opener Kamran Akmal (8 runs) was once again cheaply bowled on the ball of Hasan Ali. But second opener Hazratullah Zazai of Afghanistan and 32-year-old Australian batsman Jonathan Wells put their team back on the winning track by putting up a brilliant 126-run partnership for the second wicket.

In the second consecutive match and for the third time in four matches, Hazratullah Zazai won everyone’s heart by playing a half-century. The Afghan batsman scored 66 runs in 44 balls before being dismissed in the 15th over. While after him Jonathan Wells also completed his fifty and played an unbeaten 55 runs in 43 balls to take his team to victory. During this, experienced batsman Shoaib Malik (32 not out in 10 balls) supported him well. Peshawar Zalmi easily chased down the target in 16.5 overs for the loss of 2 wickets and sealed their place in the final.