Peshawar’s captain Babar blames ‘ordinary’ bowling for loss against Islamabad in second eliminator

“I think we were in a good position after 10 overs. But our bowling after that was very bad. We weren’t up to the mark and we thought we had won the match,” Babar said while speaking after the team’s loss, the News reported.

“Credit to Imad Wasim and Haider Ali for how they played,” said Babar as he hailed the duo on their partnership which proved crucial in United’s victory.

Taking to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, the 29-year-old expressed gratitude to the fans for their support and reaffirmed the team’s commitment to “come back stronger.”

During the match, United had a horrible start, losing three wickets within four overs with only 21 runs on the board as they attempted to chase down Zalmi’s 186-run target.

Imad Wasim (L) Haider Ali (R) celebrate their victory. AFP

In-form opener Martin Guptill briefly fought back, notably scoring 22 runs in an over against Saim Ayub, before being dismissed by Khurram Shehzad on the final delivery of the batting powerplay.

Guptill remained a notable contributor for the United, scoring 34 runs off 21 balls, including five boundaries and a six.

Saim Ayub celebrates after the wicket during the PSL eliminator match against Islamabad United. AP

Earlier, Babar Azam scored 25 to end a memorable season with a total of 569 runs – the most any batter has scored in PSL history – before Shadab plucked a superb catch at mid-off. Ayub and Mohammad Haris (40) fell in successive overs.

Fast bowler Naseem Shah (3-30) picked up Babar’s wicket in his first spell and dismissed Haris and Tom Kohler-Cadmore in the death overs.