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Friday March 29, 2024

Zalmi and United to fight for PSL final glory today

By Khalid Hussain
March 25, 2018

KARACHI: Peshawar Zalmi will be looking to make it two in a row when they take on Islamabad United in the HBL Pakistan Super League final – billed as Karachi’s biggest match of the decade -- here at the National Stadium on Sunday (today), while the port city has been decorated to celebrate the return of international cricket after nine years.

Zalmi, the defending champions, have won their last four matches at a stretch and will look to capitalise on the momentum to conquer United, easily the most successful team of PSL 3.

While Zalmi will be hoping that their one-man demolition squad, Kamran Akmal, will click again, United will be looking towards the in-form Luke Ronchi to help them regain the coveted crown.

Both men have dominated PSL this season and are the chief reasons why their teams are in a position to take a shot at the crown.

Kamran Akmal, Pakistan’s discarded wicketkeeper-batsman, has once again proved to be a match-winner as he has helped Zalmi win three of their last four knockout games. In the playoff against Karachi Kings at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium, Kamran was simply unstoppable. He is the highest scorer of the tournament with 424 runs from 12 matches and would go all out to finish PSL on a high.

If he gets going tonight then United will struggle to stay in the game.

But if Kamran is in top gear then same could be true about Ronchi. The seasoned New Zealander was snubbed by the IPL but that league’s teams must be regretting now. The aggressive batsman is the third highest run-getter of PSL 3 with 383 runs.

Asked whether Akmal and Ronchi could once again play lead roles in the final, JP Duminy who is likely to lead Islamabad United said that it would be the team adapting to the conditions in Karachi which will have the upper hand. “It’s a new pitch and new conditions and much will depend on which teams adapts to it better,” he said.

Waqar Younis, Islamabad’s coach, said that he is expecting a high-scoring final.

Misbah-ul-Haq, Islamabad’s veteran captain is expected to miss the final because of a hairline fracture in his wrist. But Waqar said that a final decision will be taken after Saturday evening’s training session.

Sammy’s Zalmi have won four consecutive knockout games and is now ready to win one last one on Sunday to retain the title.

“At the start of tournament, I said we are here to defend our title. We know it was not going to be easy, but the journey has been a great one,” he said.

Sammy is confident that the love affair will continue when he will lead Zalmi in this year’s final but against a different team and a different venue.

He is hoping that Pashtuns, who have a sizeable population in Karachi, will support his team in big numbers in tonight’s final against Islamabad United. “I have been told they have a lot of Pashtuns here. So I want them to come out dressing the yellow shirts. In the end, cricket is the winner and I think it’s been over 10 years that they had any sort of major cricket here,” Sammy told reporters in the pre-match conference here at the National Stadium on Saturday.

“First of all, fans in Karachi should come and support us for good cricket. And hopefully both teams could put up a great show,” the former West Indies’ captain said.

The security, meanwhile, is tight in the city especially in and around the National Stadium. Thousands of security personnel have been deployed to ensure a smoothing staging of the PSL final, which is the biggest cricket match in the city since 2009 when Karachi hosted a Test match against Sri Lanka.

The weather is warm yet pleasant and the playing conditions at the National Stadium are expected to be batting-friendly. The final has been sold out.

Squads:

Peshawar Zalmi (likely): Kamran Akmal (wk), Andre Fletcher, Mohammad Hafeez, Saad Nasim, Liam Dawson, Darren Sammy (capt), Chris Jordan, Hasan Ali, Wahab Riaz, Umaid Asif, Sameen Gul.

Islamabad United (likely): Luke Ronchi (wk), Sahibzada Farhan, JP Duminy (capt), Hussain Talat, Samit Patel, Asif Ali, Chadwick Walton/Samuel Badree, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Sami, Amad Butt.

Our correspondent adds: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah expressed his desire that next time, matches of the Pakistan Super League would be played at the Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad along with Karachi being the main venue in the province. He stated this while talking to journalists as he visited the National Stadium and other parts of the city late on Friday night to review the preparations and arrangements being made for the final match of the PSL's 3rd edition in Karachi. “You people leave Karachi aside as you should now talk about the Niaz Stadium of Hyderabad. Next year matches of PSL will be played there.”

The chief minister said the law and order situation in Karachi had improved a lot while arrangements had been finalised to host the PSL’s final. He added that he was satisfied with the level of arrangements made for the final match, saying all the relevant quarters had made efforts to make it possible. Shah said that the residents of Karachi had been given the opportunity to watch the match with all facilities. He expressed the resolve that the National Stadium in Karachi would once again host international one-day and Test cricket matches. He said that earlier the National Stadium was in poor shape but now its condition had been improved a lot. He said a team of the International Cricket Council had visited the stadium and expressed full satisfaction over the security arrangements for the match there.

The CM said Karachi was the economic hub of the entire country and it had regained its past glory with the normalisation of situation.

He noted that new development projects in the city, including bridges and underpasses, were being constructed under his supervision.

Separately talking to newsmen, Home Minister Sohail Anwar Khan Siyal said the Sindh government had fulfilled its promise to hold the final match of the PSL in Karachi. He said he was satisfied with the state of security arrangements for the match.

He said the security plan for the PSL final in Karachi was prepared in accordance with the laws of the ICC.

Siyal said the first security cordon for the match would comprise personnel of the Rangers, the second cordon would consist of personnel of both the Rangers and the police, while the third cordon would be made up of police personnel only.

He said it was a good omen that international cricket was being revived in the city after a gap of nine years. He appealed to all citizens to cooperate with the security agencies performing duties for the PSL final match. He said the citizens of Karachi should maintain discipline to send out a good message to rest of the world.

Over 8,000 cops, including 800 Special Security Unit (SSU) commandos, and personnel from other law enforcement agencies will perform duties at designated places in the city during the Pakistan Super League’s final being played at the National Stadium today.

The law enforcers will be deployed at the National Stadium, Karachi airport, important routes, parking lots, hotels and other places. Sharp shooters will also be deployed at different places.

SSU chief Maqsood Memon told a media briefing on Saturday it was a matter of great pleasure that international players were coming to Karachi after a long time and the field of sports was being revived. “All of us have to work together to prove that life has been restored and Karachi is a peaceful city.”

PCB Chairman Najam Sethi, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Corps Commander Karachi Lt-General Shahid Baig Mirza, Rangers DG Major General Muhammad Saeed, IGP AD Khowaja, all law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders had played a commendable role for organising the PSL final in Karachi, he added.

Memon said all departments had worked day and night to organise this mega event, for which no previous example existed. The mega event could not have been organised successfully without the cooperation of the media and the public.

The cops to be deployed would include 32 SSPs/SPs, 95 DSPs, 1,051 inspectors, sub-inspectors and assistant sub-inspectors, 6,323 head constables, police constables and commandos, 603 female staffers and 28 mounted police. The zone-wise breakdown of police personnel deployment is: District East, 4,051; District South, 1,209, District West, 530; and SSU and other police units, 2,342. The SSU is providing motorcade and security cover at the Karachi airport and hotels as well as long the routes.

The SSU chief said the country’s first Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team, comprising highly-trained and well-equipped commandos, including female commandos, would remain alert at the SSU headquarters as a quick response force to deal with any emergency situation.

The SSU has prepared a brochure having guidelines for distribution among spectators. Besides, personnel have also been assigned duties to guide spectators at the gates of the National Stadium and parking lots.

Meanwhile, the spokesman for the chief minister said the CM had sent letters to certain eminent authorities in the country, inviting them on behalf of the people of Sindh to come to Karachi and watch the PSL final match on Sunday.

The letters have been sent to the president, the prime minister, the governors and the chief ministers of the provinces, the chief of army staff, the chief of air staff, the chief of naval staff, the speaker of the National Assembly, the chairman of the Senate, and the president and the PM of Azad Kashmir.