Darren Sammy held his nerve to defend 13 runs off the final over as Peshawar Zalmi overcame a Ravi Bopara blitz to register a three-run win over Karachi Kings in front of a raucous Sharjah crowd on Thursday (February 11). When Bopara (67 off 33) hit the first ball of the final over for six, Karachi appeared to have turned around a near-impossible situation to a very gettable equation of seven from five. In his eagerness to finish the game off, Bopara hit a low full-toss straight down the throat of the long-on fielder to leave the tailenders 5 to get off 3 deliveries. Sammy then proceeded to bowl three full deliveries, restricting Karachi to just one run, sparking wild celebrations from the Peshawar camp.

Karachi were going nowhere in their chase of 182 when Bopara joined James Vince in the ninth over with the score at 48 for 5. The duo added 61 runs in just over five overs, sparking an unlikely comeback. Even then, Peshawar seemed to have enough runs on the board to cruise to victory. Bopara then took 26 off a Shaun Tait over to reduce the equation to 22 from the final two overs. Bopara had done all the hard work but like in the game against Islamabad, just about failed to take Karachi over the line, who now slip to their third successive defeat complicating their route to the playoffs.

The Kings shot themselves in the foot with a lackadaisical top-order performance. Lendl Simmons fell to Wahab Riaz early before two runouts dented Karachi's innings. Nauman Anwar was caught short of his crease by a Shahid Yousaf direct hit from backward point attempting a quick single while Imad Wasim, inexplicably, showed no urgency to make the crease and found himself short by a couple of inches, while walking through for a single. By the time Mohammad Asghar and Shahid Afridi accounted for Shoaib Malik and Shakib Al Hasan respectively inside the 10th over, Peshawar were firmly in control of the game before Bopara nearly took it away from them.

Earlier after electing to bat, Peshawar got off to a sparkling start with Hafeez batting like only he can - Minimum fuss, maximum productivity. The stylish opener helped himself to four effortlessly timed boundaries in the first two overs, three of which came off Imad Wasim's over as Malik stuck to his Dubai gameplan of bowling spin from one end right from the start. Swapping Imad with Shakib Al Hasan didn't help either as Hafeez expertly used his feet to pick up a six and a four. 48 came off the powerplay with Tamim Iqbal contributing only 11 off those runs.

The former Pakistan captain completed a 29-ball half-century soon after as Karachi's bowlers continued to serve up generous full tosses. A back-of-the-hand slower ball full toss from Ravi Bopara was deposited on to the roof of the stand, forcing a change of ball. The brief stoppage in play disrupted Hafeez's concentration as he missed another slower ball from the Englishman to be trapped out LBW for 59 off 25. Replays, however, indicated that the ball would have missed leg stump. Karachi then enjoyed their best phase of the game with Bopara ending a sluggish innings from Tamim just when he looked to up the ante.

Imad continued to struggle even in his second spell as Kamran Akmal helped himself to a flurry of boundaries en route a quickfire 20-ball 30. Mohammad Amir (1-24) came back to dismiss Akmal but Shahid Afridi, reprieved after being caught off a no-ball, and Darren Sammy added valuable runs at the death as Peshawar milked 56 in the last five overs to post a formidable 182 on the board, a total that Karachi almost usurped.

Brief Scores: Peshawar Zalmi 182/4 in 20 overs (Mohammad Hafeez 59, Tamim Iqbal 37; Ravi Bopara 2-31) beat Karachi Kings 179/9 in 20 overs (Ravi Bopara 67, James Vince 44; Wahab Riaz 2-29) by 3 runs.