Nahid Rana made his PSL debut, but the Bangladesh pacer did not get off to a good start. He played for Peshawar Zalmi against Hyderabad Kingsmen on Wednesday (April 8), but Rana’s performance in the first match was very poor. In an innings of 145 runs, he bowled 30 runs in 3 overs, that too without a wicket. Peshawar captain Babar Azam did not trust Rana on the turning pitch in Karachi and did not hand the ball to him. Another Tiger pacer Shariful Islam also did not do very well in this match. Shariful gave 21 runs in 2 overs, although he had 31 runs in his first match.
Meanwhile, Babar Power gave the ball to Nahid Rana in the last over. He conceded 17 runs in the first over, in which Marnus Labuschagne and Kusal Perera hit three boundaries. However, Rana did well in the next two overs, conceding only two boundaries.
Although Peshawar’s two Bangladeshi pacers did not perform very well, Peshawar still won. Iftikhar Ahmed and Sufian Mukim played a key role in restricting Hyderabad to 145 runs. Both took 4 wickets each. Iftikhar then played a major role in helping the team win with the bat.
Peshawar won by 4 wickets, thanks to Babar Azam’s 43, Kusal Mendis’ 27 and Michael Bracewell’s 25. Peshawar scored 78 runs in 10 overs, with Iftikhar scoring 15 runs off 10 balls to secure the win. This was Peshawar’s second win in 3 matches, where the match against Islamabad United was abandoned. On the other hand, newcomers Hyderabad are yet to win, having lost all their 4 matches.
While this is a big disappointment for Bangladesh cricket fans, Peshawar’s win will boost the team’s confidence. Their performance is expected to improve further in the upcoming matches.
