The Lahore outfit’s win could not have come at a better time as it resurrected their campaign after they had suffered four defeats in their five previous matches and were staring at the dreaded prospect of finishing last in the tournament.
Yesterday also, they appeared to be plunging to their fifth defeat in six matches as Peshawar scored at a fair clip after being set a target of 165.
But just when it appeared all was lost for the Qalandars, Cooper knocked off the dangerous Darren Sammy for six and top-scorer Dawid Malan for 42 in the 17th and 19th over to help his side win a thriller as Peshawar finished on 160 for 7. Cooper finished with 3 for 25, while Cameron Delport also had identical figures.
Peshawar Zalmi needed 42 runs in five overs with six wickets in hand, but Cooper’s splendid show after the unfortunate run out of Shahid Yousuf for 16 decisively turned the tide in Qalandars’ favour. Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal had scored 30 at the top of the innings for Peshawar.
Earlier, allrounder Delport had blasted 78 runs off 61 balls with Umar Akmal providing some late fireworks as Lahore Qalandars posted a decent if not formidable total of 164 for 3.
Lahore had the most disastrous start imaginable when the hard-hitting Chris Gayle was trapped in front of the wicket for nought by fast bowler Junaid Khan, but a 53-run stand between Delport and skipper Azhar Ali (25) put them back on track.
South African Delport eschewed risks early on, especially when fiery Aussie paceman Shaun Tait was in operation along with Junaid, but opened up as the innings progressed to score 78 off 61 balls with six fours and three sixes.
Umar Akmal then gave the finishing touches to the Lahore innings with a 31-ball blitz that fetched him 52 runs, his half-century coming from a four off the last ball of the innings bowled by Junaid.
In the first match of the day, Quetta Gladiators became the first team to secure their spot in the playoffs when they outclassed the Karachi Kings by five wickets.
Disciplined medium pace bowing by New Zealander Grant Elliot, who took a career-best four for 15, saw the Shoaib Malik-led Karachi outfit score a disappointing 126 for 9.
The 36-year-old Elliott followed up his 3 for 25 against Islamabad United on Thursday with another magnificent effort yesterday by scything through Karachi’s top order and laying the foundations for his team’s win.
Quetta Gladiators then appeared to be racing towards an easy win when they reached 66 for 1 at the end of eight overs before the curse of the middle overs set in and caused some jitters in their ranks.
The introduction of leg-spinner Usama Mir in the seventh over and then medium pacer Ravi Bopara shortly afterwards brought down the run rate considerably, especially after the loss of Ahmed Shehzad’s wicket for 41 after the Pakistan opener attempted to walk across the stumps and was bowled by Mir for 41 off 26 balls.
Quetta limped to 104 for 4 at the end of the 15th over, scoring only 38 runs from the ninth to the 15th over, but the target of 127 set by Karachi was never going to be a big problem as they achieved it with seven balls to spare.
Kevin Pietersen and captain Sarfraz Ahmed contributed 26 and 29 runs respectively for the winners.
Earlier, the Kings, who opted to bat after winning the toss, lost opener Nauman Anwar in the third over with just six on the board before England’s James Vince and captain Malik consolidated. Malik was Karachi’s batting mainstay with 45 off 38 balls.
The Kings, who defeated Qalandars on Friday, were once again without the services of Mohamed Amir and the Gladiators also remain unchanged.
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