During the fifth match of the ongoing Pakistan Super League 2022 at the Multan Cricket Ground on Friday, the Peshawar Zalmi had no answer to the mammoth total of 210/3 posted by the Multan Sultans, thereby losing the match by 56 runs.
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Scintillating half-century from Rilee Rossouw (75 off 36), his partnership alongside Mohammad Rizwan (66 off 42), and some aggressive hitting down the order helped Multan surpass the 200-run mark.
In reply, the Zalmi were quickly off the block and looked pretty daunting with the pair of Mohammad Haris (40 off 23) and Saim Ayub (53 off 37) scoring aggressively. However, after the duo got dismissed within a span of two Overs, the batting line-up ultimately collapsed at 154 in 18.5 Overs.
Leg-spinner Usama Mir (4-0-22-3) and pacer Ishanullah (3.5-0-24-3), who is owning much of the spotlight of-late, were the pick of the bowlers for Sultans during their total defense.
Mohammad Haris reckons Ihsanullah was lucky to have not bowled a lot at him
Haris looked good at the crease having already smashed four Sixes in his innings, but was unfortunately Run Out during Ihsanullah’s second Over, courtesy of a direct hit.
Ishanullah, who is the most talked-about pacer in PSL 2023 so far after having scalped a five-wicket haul versus Quetta Gladiators during the previous match, had a decent outing against Zalmi as well yesterday.
During the post-match interaction with the media, Haris was asked regarding the communication he had with skipper Babar Azam at the crease, as to how to face Ihsanullah during the innings.
In a possible bid to mitigate the hype around the pacer, Haris went on to confidently remark that the way he was hitting, he (Ihsanullah) should consider himself lucky that he did not bowl much to him during the innings (two balls to be precise).
“Jis tarah ki meri ball lag rahi thi, to shukar hai Ihsanullah bach gaya. Vo to uski khushkismati hai, kyunki usko mai keeping kar chuka hun One-Day me. Har uske 10 Over mai pakad chuka hun keeping mein. KPK me vo hamare saath hi khelte hain. To mujhe uska pata hai, ki kab kaun sa ball karta hai. Itna to mujhe pata hai, aur main basically Ihsanullah ke liye plan karke aaya tha, par unfortunately mai sirf uske do ball hi khel saka (The way I was hitting the ball, Ihsanullah should consider himself very lucky that he got spared. I have kept to his bowling while playing for KPK during the One-Day matches, so I know when and what he is likely to bowl. I had in fact, come quite prepared to face him, but unfortunately could only face two of his deliveries.)”, remarked Haris.
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