Peshawar Zalmi

Peshawar Zalmi is a cricket franchise based in Peshawar that competes in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The team emerged champions during the second edition of the PSL held in 2017.

Background

In December 2015 the Pakistan Cricket Board approved 5 major city based franchises and the Peshawar franchise was bought for a sum of 16 million USD by Haier Pakistan.

Though the initial stages of the first season went well for the Zalmi, they crashed out of the tournament after losing to Islamabad United during the second qualifier match.

Players

Tamim Iqbal with 267 runs, in a total of 6 matches was the team’s highest scorer during the 2016 edition of the PSL.

Kamran Akmal with a total of 353 runs was the team’s highest scorer and also the player of the tournament for the 2017 edition of the PSL.

However, the most famous player for the franchise was Shahid Afridi who represented the team for the first two seasons, but made a move to the Karachi Kings during the third season.

The team is being led by Windies star Darren Sammy, since the 2017 edition.

Club Trajectory

After a fruitless first season the Peshawar side geared up and got ready for the second season, full of zeal.

During the PSL draft for the second season, the Peshawar franchise retained 10 of its main players and signed 8 new, including the likes of Shakib Al Hasan, Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales.

They lost their opening match to Islamabad United, yet again.

As the tournament moved on the Zalmi were up against Quetta Gladiators, however the match had to be abandoned due to on and off showers.

The two teams were matched up again, and this time things went south for the Zalmi as victory slipped from their hands during the last over of the bout.

As the Gladiators moved on to the finals, the Zalmi had to play the second qualifier.

In the second qualifier the Zalmi beat Karachi Kings by 24 runs and progressed to the finals.

Batting first, the Zalmi struggled initially with 6 wickets down for only 112 runs, however a heroic knock from Darren Sammy in the final stages of the innings helped them put up a score of 148 on the board. Thereafter a brilliant bowling spell from the Zalmi helped them clench the title, defeating the Gladiators by 58 runs.

During the 2018 season, the Zalmi had a staggering run and made it to the finals yet again.

However, things didn’t go as planned and the Zalmi suffered a rough defeat at the hands of Islamabad United, losing by 3 wickets.