Afridi has a ball as Peshawar thrash Quetta

Love him or hate him, you can’t ignore him. If ever you can get away with such a cliché, it’s on special occasions like these when a certain Pathan becomes the centre of the cricketing universe for his fans.
There he was last night, not hoicking sixes on one leg to cow cover, but nevertheless sending his fans into a thrall and the opposition into a pitiable free-fall. When Shahid Afridi is on song, with bat or ball, this is pretty much what you get.
Can he not produce such gems on a regular basis, his fans would often wonder. But then, what is the point of being Shahid Afridi?
At the Sharjah Cricket Stadium yesterday, Afridi perhaps returned the most lethal figures in Twenty20 history to lay the foundation for Peshawar Zalmi’s eight-wicket win over Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League.
On the slow wicket that Sharjah is notorious for, the leg-spinner took five wickets for seven runs in four overs to make a mockery of the Gladiators’ batting as they collapsed to 128 all out in 18 overs.
Zalmi then raced to the target in 18.4 overs with Dawid Malan coming good again with an unbeaten 60 off 52 balls with the aid of six fours and a six after opener Mohamed Hafeez had hit 36 off 29 balls to set their innings rolling.
When Quetta batted, captain Afridi introduced himself in the sixth over after paceman Wahab Riaz had disposed of Ahmed Shehzad (21) and Kumar Sangakkara for nought.
The veteran made an immediate impact by getting rid of Akbar-ur-Rehman, who mistimed an intended shot through cover and holed out to Shahid Yousuf at point. Afridi then dismissed Asad Shafiq by running him out in his next over before claiming the wickets of Mohamed Nawaz and Sarfraz Ahmed as Quetta stumbled to 66 for 6.
The Peshawar skipper was not done yet as he sent Mohamed Nabi and Elton Chigumbura packing with two successive deliveries to collect a rare five-for which would perhaps remain etched in the record books for long.
But for some spunky batting by New Zealander Grant Elliott, who made 40 off 29 balls with three sixes and two fours, the Gladiators would have not even crossed the 100-mark.
Peshawar were wary of the pitfalls of chasing a low score, but Hafeez and Malan put together 60 runs for the first wicket to make the team’s task easier.
Hafeez’s dismissal for 36 had little impact on the Peshawar chase as Malan and Kamran Akmal put on 54 runs for the second wicket to ensure that victory was a mere formality.
Peshawar now top the standings with 10 points from seven matches and have qualified for the playoffs along with Quetta who also have the same number of points. The race for the remaining playoff spots is between Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi and the positions would be clearer after the league phase ends on Feb 17.

Islamabad seal win with a six
Earlier, in the first match of the day, Islamabad United left it late, but sealed it with a six. As far as Twenty20 cricket goes, this was as intriguing as it could get.
A stuttering start, a tense, gritty effort at stabilization with the ever-reliable Misbah-ul-Haq taking charge with Khalid Latif, and a sprint to the finish thanks to Asif Ali’s unbeaten 31 off 17 balls gave the spectators their money’s worth.
But in the end it was the Islamabad United supporters who were shouting themselves hoarse in celebration after their team beat the Karachi Kings by five wickets to boost their chances of qualifying for the playoffs.
Set what was thought to be a paltry target of 129, Islamabad, who chose to bat second, lost three wickets with just 47 runs on the board before solid 30s by Misbah, Latif and Ali saw them seal only their third win in seven matches.
“It’s a good win, Asif really finished the game well. The game became a little difficult (when I got out), but the way he hit those couple of boundaries, he really showed his promise,” Islamabad captain Misbah said. “The bowlers bowled really well on this pitch. It has been a good confidence boost for us.”
With the UAE becoming a very busy cricketing centre, more so in recent years, the tracks have lost much of their life with the result that often there are periods when even Twenty20 matches acquire a new dimension—they begin to mimic Test matches.
This has been the case especially in Sharjah in the Pakistan Super League. Three days ago, the Karachi Kings beat the Qatar-owned Lahore Qalandars with England all-rounder Ravi Bopara claiming six wickets for next to nothing.
The shortest format of the game doesn’t allow medium-pacers much scope to unleash their full range, but Bopara swung the match in Karachi’s favour with reverse swing, catching Lahore by surprise. The scruffiness of the pitch and the outfield no doubt played a part in that match and yesterday, too, the batsmen struggled because bowlers kept taking the pace off the ball. Misbah scored 38 off as many balls before becoming the fifth Islamabad batsman to lose his wicket, falling to Bopara.
Bopara couldn’t replicate his match-winning effort against Lahore three days ago but still finished with one wicket for 22 runs from his three overs to go with his 45 runs off 50 balls, again striking a blow for that breed of cricketers who are tailor-made for Twenty20 set-up but still fail to catch the imagination of fans who throng stadiums mainly to see the occasional bursts of magic from flamboyant blades of the likes of a Shahid Afridi or Kieron Pollard.
Asif, realizing the danger of lingering around and propelled by instinct rather than calculation, hit three sixes—one off Bopara and two off Mir Hamza in the 19th over to finish off the match.
The Karachi batting effort earlier was led by Bopara, whose 45 was the  top score, and a 27-ball 32 by Bangladesh star Mushfiqur Rahim.
Left-arm spinner Imran Khalid of Islamabad took the man-of-the-match honours with figures of two for 19 off four overs, bowled in two two-over spells.
Karachi paceman Mohamed Asif saw action again after missing two matches and bowled his full quota of four overs for 21 runs, claiming the wicket of Andre Russell. Islamabad’s star allrounder Shane Watson left the squad after suffering an abdominal injury and would be missing the World Twenty20 to be played in India next month.
Brief scores
Karachi Kings: 128 for 5 (Ravi Bopara 45 (50b, 4x4), Mushfiqur Rahim 33 (27b, 4x2, 6x1); Imran Khalid 2/4) lost to
Islamabad United: 131 for 5 in 18.5 overs (Misbah-ul-Haq 38 (38b, 4x5), Khalid Latif 33 (35b, 4x1, 6x3), Asif Ali 31 (17b, 4x1, 6x3) by 5 wickets.
Quetta Gladiators 129 all out in 18 overs (GD Elliott 40 (29b, 4x2, 6x3; Afridi 5/7) lost to Peshawar Zalmi 130 for 2 in 18.4 overs (Dawid Malan 60* (52b, 4x6, 6x1), Md Hafeez 36 (29b, 4x5, 6x1) by 8 wickets.