Sharjah : History was made at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday night when an injured Darren Sammy limped to the pitch and single-handedly steered Peshawar Zalmi to victory in a nail-biting finish against Quetta Gladiators.
Sammy smashed two sixes and one four in the four balls he faced, ensuring a much-needed victory for his side with two balls to spare. The defending champions were chasing the 142-run target set by the Gladiators, who were asked to bat first by Zalmi in the 10th match of the Pakistan Super League’s third edition.
“I just needed to hit three sixes, that’s what I told the coach,” Sammy said after winning the man-of-the-match award, adding that it’s a “great feeling to make the team win”.
In the first 10 overs, Gladiators scored 68 runs for the loss of three wickets.
Shane Watson remained the pick of batsmen for Gladiators, scoring 47 off 32 balls.
Despite playing steadily through their first 15 overs, Gladiators lost their footing when the time came to accelerate. They lost four wickets in quick succession and could only manage to score 32 runs in the last five overs, ending their innings at 141 for 8 in their allotted 20 overs.
Rossouw was the second leading scorer for Quetta as he scored 37 off 25 deliveries.
In reply, Zalmi were off to a steady start, maintaining a run rate of more than 8 runs per over in their batting powerplay.
In the first 10 overs, Zalmi scored 76 runs for the loss of two wickets. The match shaped up nicely into a close finish with the Zalmi needing 22 runs in the last two overs.
But it was Sammy who limped to the match and made it look like a one-sided contest in just four balls that he faced.
