LAHORE: Thousands of cricket enthusiasts watched the final of a Twenty20 league as the country staged its biggest match in almost a decade on Sunday.
Thousands of police and paratroops patrolled the area around the Gaddafi Stadium and army helicopters hovered overhead to make the mega event a success.
Jubilant crowds, mostly teens, made it to the stadium to shout pro-Pakistan slogans as Peshawar Zalmi defeated Quetta Gladiators by 58 runs in the final to win the second edition of the Pakistan Super League at the picturesque Gaddafi Stadium.
Chasing target of 149, Quetta made a dismal start as their batting order collapsed under pressure of the target set by Peshawar. Fourteen overs in, Quetta had scored a sluggish 81 runs and their eight men were down. Mohammad Asghar claimed three scalps while Wahab Riaz and Hasan Ali claimed two wickets apiece. Quetta made a slow start to their innings, making only one run in the first over and losing Morne Van Wyk to a run-out on the third ball of the second. Their second wicket fell on the first ball of the fourth over, when Anamul Haque was caught by Jordan at long-off off Asghar’s delivery. Captain Sarfraz Ahmad walked in and scored a couple of quick boundaries to put some life back in the Quetta’s innings, but they lost Ahmad Shahzad in the next over for only one run, caught off Hasan by Khushdil Shah. One over later, Sarfraz was stumped by the Peshawar’s wicketkeeper as he charged down the pitch and attempted to hack the ball away. Saad Nasim was caught out off a delivery by Wahab in the seventh over. SM Ervine was bowled and Mohammad Nawaz stumped off two consecutive deliveries by Asghar.
Quetta defeated Peshawar by one-run (on February 28 at Sharjah) while Peshawar had downed Karachi Kings by 24 runs (on March 3 at Dubai) in the play-offs to qualify for the much anticipated Lahore final. Many never had the experience of covering a game of cricket from inside a strongly guarded fortress – the Gaddafi Stadium – which was turned into for staging the PSL final as a showpiece event to emphasise to the world that Pakistan was now ready to host international teams once again. Desperate fans filled the ground to have an evening of fun after having gone through the pain and torture of securing an entry ticket in return of huge sums of money for the sake of watching a final of a tournament which itself was not held in Pakistan because of security reasons. Quetta and Peshawar had a host of foreign players available for the final despite security fears having already scared off a host of international stars. Quetta had already seen English trio Kevin Pietersen, Luke Wright and Tymal Mills as well as South Africa’s Rilee Rossouw and Nathan McCullum of New Zealand refuse to play in Pakistan.
Earlier, Kamran Akmal and skipper Darren Sammy played fine knocks of 40 and 29 respectively as Peshawar were able to post respectable total of 148 for the loss of six wickets in their allotted overs. Although Peshawar kicked off their innings with three solid boundaries smacked by opener Kamran, the middle order collapsed under pressure halfway through the game, with Kamran, Dawid Malan, Marlon Samuels and Khushdil Shah’s wickets falling thick and fast. Sammy picked up the pace by the end of the game, delivering defendable total. Quetta’s bowler Rayad Emrit was a force to be reckoned with, taking three wickets – Mohammad Hafeez, Iftikhar Ahmed, and Malan – with an economy of 31 runs off four overs. Mohammad Nawaz conceded just 15 runs off his four overs, taking one wicket. The Pakistan Army and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had assured VIP-level security arrangements – normally reserved for state heads – for the teams. It was the highest-level game in Pakistan since a 2009 assault on the Sri Lanka team bus outside Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium killed six people and wounded several players.
