Darren Sammy personified the phrase ‘stand and deliver’, leading his team to victory in the 10th match of Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2018. Sammy hobbled off the field due to a knee injury without even completing his third over in the 15th over of the first innings. But the skipper came to his team’s rescue when it looked like they were going to lose the match, courtesy Quetta Gladiators bowling attack.
Sammy decided to come in to bat when Peshawar Zalmi needed 17 runs to win off 9 balls. He was not on the strike. Khalid Usman took a single after playing a dot delivery. The equation after that was – 16 runs needed off 7 balls. It was a perfect setting for Sammy to show off his power-hitting skills and that’s exactly what he did.
The first ball he faced was smoked for a six over long on. Rahat Ali tried to bowl a full length delivery and Sammy expected that as well. He cleared his front leg and hit the ball into the crowd.
SIX! 18.6 Rahat Ali to Darren Sammy
Watch ball by ball highlights at https://t.co/OhOiaZDLRV#QGvPZ #HBLPSL #Cricingif #PSL2018 pic.twitter.com/MVVa3zeZEC— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) March 1, 2018
Peshawar needed 10 runs off 6 balls but Sammy was not on strike. He was hobbling between the wickets. Khalid Usman sensed that he needed to get him on strike and he worked the ball into the gap, a second was on but Sammy was not prepared for it.
SIX! 19.2 Anwar Ali to Darren Sammy
Watch ball by ball highlights at https://t.co/OhOiaZDLRV#QGvPZ #HBLPSL #Cricingif #PSL2018 pic.twitter.com/YSFjnypFKZ— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) March 1, 2018
Two hits and the game was over. Sammy backed himself to hit a biggie. This time he struck the short ball over deep square leg for a maximum, no need to run there as well, just stand and deliver.
Darren Sammy scores the match-winning 4 for Peshawar Zalmi !
Watch ball by ball highlights at https://t.co/OhOiaZDLRV#QGvPZ #HBLPSL #Cricingif #PSL2018 pic.twitter.com/1uXUfcUZkN— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) March 1, 2018
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Anwar Ali managed to bowl a yorker off the next ball but could not delay the inevitable. He sensed another yorker coming and stood back into the crease. Sammy once again dug out the ball and managed to get it past the mid-off fielder for a boundary.
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He scored 16 runs off just 4 deliveries powering his team to a victory by leading from the front. There have been talks about crowd not turning up for PSL matches. But, they sure missed a hell of a game which might go down as one of the best in PSL history.
