LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has banned Zimbabwe’s cricket player Blessing Muzarabani from participating in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) for two years. This ban came after it was noted that Muzarabani had breached the contract signed between himself and the PSL and joined the Indian Premier League (IPL).
According to the PCB, Blessing Muzarabani joined IPL while he still had an active contract with the PSL. The PCB stated that professional cricket involves trust and agreements being kept. He needed to act professionally in the PSL environment as well as during other competitions like the IPL.
“The Professional game requires trust and assurance through contractual agreements,” a spokesman for the PCB said. “Players participating in franchise tournaments have to do so with professionalism and transparency.”
The PCB went ahead to state that it is important to ban players who do not meet the required professionalism. Such players and their agents must understand that there is a need to maintain the standards of the tournaments.
“This step is taken to maintain the standards of the PSL environment and its tournaments,” the spokesman added.
Peshawar Zalmi beat Multan Sultans in PSL 11
Yesterday, in the 11th edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), Peshawar Zalmi continued their unbeaten streak by defeating the strongest team in the tournament, Multan Sultans, by 24 runs.
The match, held at the National Stadium in Karachi, saw Multan Sultans win the toss and choose to field first. However, Peshawar Zalmi proved this decision wrong, amassing an impressive total of 196 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in their allotted 20 overs.
Peshawar Zalmi started strong, with Mohammad Haris scoring an aggressive 38 runs off just 17 balls. Following him, Sri Lankan batsman Kaushal Mendis showcased his excellent form by scoring his third consecutive half-century, contributing a key innings of 68 runs. Other notable performances came from Farhan Yousuf, who scored 30 runs, and captain Babar Azam, who added 18 runs.
For Multan Sultans, bowlers Mohammad Ismail and Peter Siddle each took two wickets.
In their pursuit of 197 runs, the Multan Sultans batsmen put up a fight but struggled to keep up with the required run rate. Shan Masood scored 35 runs, Josh Flippy contributed 32 runs, and Steve Smith added 31 runs, but none were able to play a substantial innings against Peshawar’s disciplined bowling. Ultimately, the entire team fell short of the target within the allotted overs.
Young spinner Safyan Muqeem was instrumental in Peshawar Zalmi’s victory, taking 3 crucial wickets for just 22 runs in 4 overs, and was named the Man of the Match. Fast bowler Naheed Rana also performed well, dismissing 2 players for 24 runs, while Iftikhar Ahmed added two wickets to the tally. With this victory, Peshawar Zalmi further solidified their position at the top of the points table.
