LAHORE: Quetta Gladiators’ left-arm pacer Mohammad Amir disclosed his brief conversation with Peshawar Zalmi captain Babar Azam during their sides’ Pakistan Super League (PSL) 9 clash on Sunday.
The incident occurred in the third over of Peshawar Zalmi’s run chase when Amir bowled a short-pitched delivery to Babar, who failed to get any bat on it and went to wicketkeeper Sarfaraz Ahmed.
Meanwhile, while speaking at the post-match press conference, Amir was asked to share his conversation with Babar after the steamy bouncer.
“The instance you highlighted was regarding the bouncer which he said that it went quickly and couldn’t understand,” Amir replied to the question.
“He is a good player but my role has always been to pick wickets of the top batter,” stated Amir.
For the unversed, Mohammad Amir delivered a commendable performance with the ball, returning splendid figures of 1/29 in his spell of four overs in a high-scoring clash.
Babar Azam, on the other hand, was equally impressive, top-scoring for the Zalmi with a 42-ball 68. But his heroics went in vain as the Gladiators emerged victorious by 16 runs.
Set to chase 207, Peshawar Zalmi’s captain Babar Azam and Saim Ayub came out all guns blazing as they raised 70 runs in the powerplay.
However, their progress was halted by a mixup between the batters in the ninth over, resulting in Ayub’s run-out, which proved to be the turning point.
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Ayub scored a quick 42 runs from 26 balls, which featured three sixes and two boundaries.
Akeal Hosein then removed Mohammad Haris to reduce Zalmi to 108-2 in 10.2 overs before Tom Kohler-Cadmore joined hands with Azam for a 39-run stand.
Azam played a 68-run knock in 42 balls with the help of four boundaries and four sixes. He fell prey to Abrar Ahmed in the 16th over with 147 runs on the board.
Kohler-Cadmore also fell in the same over after scoring run-a-ball 18 runs, leaving Zalmis to chase 57 off 26.
Quetta Gladiators’ bowlers did not allow the batters to regain momentum and reduced them to 182-5 in 19 overs, requiring 25 off the last over.
Mohammad Wasim’s last over went for only seven runs, handing the Gladiators a 16-run win, with Abrar Ahmed leading the bowling with 2-29.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Amir, Hosein and Wasim bagged one wicket each.
Prior to that, Quetta Gladiators posted a mammoth total of 206/5 on the board, courtesy of Saud Shakeel and Jason Roy’s marathon opening stand.
Roy top-scored for the Gladiators with a 48-ball 75, closely followed by his opening partner Saud, who scored 74 off 47 deliveries.
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