Umaid floors United
Every franchise shut the door on Umaid Asif during the draft for the third season of Pakistan Super League (PSL) although he was the highest wicket taker in the country’s domestic T20 tournament.
However, the door was left ajar for the 33-year-old Sialkot seamer when an injury ruled out pacer Hasan Ali for first 3-4 matches. And, on debut for Peshawar Zalmi the lanky bowler left an indelible mark with four wickets in the space of 11 balls that floored former champions Islamabad United on Saturday.
The soft-spoken pacer has had a roller-coaster ride but was modest to say: “The opportunity hasn’t come late, I was learning to play all these years.” In 2014, he was suspended for a year on doping charges. The Zalmi spearhead was unflustered when asked about his doping incident and said it was an unfortunate chapter that he has put behind and worked hard to be where he is today.
Indeed, he proved that he belongs to the big league by rattling the strong Islamabad batting.
If on Friday, it was Junaid Khan taking the first hat-trick in the third edition of PSL, it was a combination of Umaid’s pace and leg spinner Ibtisam Sheikh’s guile and guts to share seven wickets in Zalmi’s thumping 34run triumph after the loss in the first game to newcomers Multan Sultans.
First, Umaid ensured that Zalmi total of 176 was too steep for the Islamabad boys, who were without their injured captain Misbah-ul-Haq, by sending four United batsmen back in the hutch for 25. He made good use of the green track that had a good carry and bounce.
After Chadwick Walton hit Umaid’s first PSL delivery for a boundary, the bowler foxed the Jamaican in the second legitimate delivery that skewed away as the United opener tried to hit him straight through the line. He, however, ended up sending the ball high in the air for leftarm seamer Wahab Riaz to jump to his wrong side and make the catch look easy at short mid-on.
In his next over, he took two more to break the United back. Umaid hurried Asif Ali, who skied for Mohammed Hafiz to comfortably pouch the ball as it came down swirling at deep square leg. An extra bounce four balls later saw Hussain Talat edging the ball to wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal. While Umaid turned hero for the handful of fans seated in the Dubai International Cricket Stadium and millions watching live on television, Ibtisam Sheikh caught the eyes of pundits with his guile and guts to toss up his leg spins and googly. “He was good and brave to toss up,” Islamabad United coach Dean Jones said about the bespectacled teenager. Ibtisam ended up with the best figures of the match 4-0-20-3.
The United were also done in with their inability to score runs in the first power play (six overs). In 39 balls they played 14 dot balls. On the other hand, after opting to make first use of greenish looking pitch, Kamran Akmal (53, 32 balls, seven 4s, three 6s) and Tamim Iqbal (39, 29 balls, two 4s, two 6s) gave Zalmi a whirlwind start for a platform that to go past 200 mark but they fell short and managed only 176.
Their bowlers, however, ensured that the total was good enough for the defending champ ions to stay on course after an early hiccup against the new team Multan Sultans.
sunilvaidya@khaleejtimes.com