Four days after pulling off a stunning win over Multan Sultans in Sharjah, Kieron Pollard was at it again as he secured a commanding victory for Peshawar Zalmi in Pakistan Super League 2019 on Thursday.
In their previous clash, Pollard hit a 10-ball 25 to clinch victory with two balls to spare and in Dubai on Thursday, the West Indian hit a 25-ball fifty to help Peshawar chase down Multan’s target of 173 with four balls and seven wickets remaining.
When Pollard joined Umar Amin (54 off 37 balls) at the crease in the 12th over, there were 88 runs required off 51 balls. That 10.3 asking rate would balloon to 13 with four overs left – by which point, Pollard had been dropped by fellow West Indies international Johnson Charles, the Multan man spilling a straight-forward catch in the deep.
Pollard was on 14 off 13 at the time, already looking like he was winding up for a huge finish and the reprieve was what it took to set him off. After taking a single off the ball he was dropped off of, Pollard hit the next 11 balls he faced for 35 runs, a sequence that ended with three straight sixes off of Daniel Christian to end the 18th over.
Take nothing away from Amin’s innings, however. His fifty was just as crucial, as he anchored the innings along with opener Imam-ul-Haq (39 off 34 balls) to keep Peshawar in the hunt. The fifty-run partnership between the duo may have been slightly slow, taking 41 balls, but by staying at the crease they gave Pollard wickets in hand to complete the chase later.
THE OYE HOYE MOMENT!
— Cricingif (@_cricingif) February 28, 2019
THREE IN A ROW FROM KIERON POLLARD @KieronPollard55 has turned the match on its head and @danchristian54 cannot do anything about it
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details:https://t.co/E0iGQd4Nmc #MSvPZ #PSL2019 #CricketForAll #KhelDeewanoKa pic.twitter.com/PMFEQIG4cL
Meanwhile, Multan will be wondering how they let this one get away. Before his fatal dropped catch, Charles was looking like one of the contenders for player of the match, his 57 off 31 leading the Sultans to a more than competitive total of 172-5. Captain Shoaib Malik chipped in with 28, though there may have been the sense of some runs being left on the board given James Vince’s relatively slow innings – 38 balls for his 41 – and Shahid Afridi failing to do much with a five-ball cameo, managing only one run.
But the bowlers did an excellent job in the front end of Peshawar’s innings, choking the scoring . The only concern was the lack of regular wickets, but when Afridi picked up the crucial one of Imam in the 12th over, it seemed he’d given his side the upper hand. Pollard had other ideas.
