Watch: Salman Irshad, a Pakistani bowler with a Lasith Malinga-esque action, showed off his skills under pressure during the first PSL eliminator between Peshawar Zalmi and Islamabad United on Thursday.

Batting first, Irshad’s team Peshawar Zalmi managed a competitive 169, with Kamran Akmal top-scoring with 58 in 39 balls. In reply, Islamabad got off to a stellar start, racing away to 111-2 in 13.5 overs, with Alex Hales looking in good nick, smashing 62. Needing another 59 runs in over six overs, the chasing side would have fancied their chances, but two quick wickets by Irshad threatened to stall their run chase.

Bowling his second over of the night, Irshad, who had already dismissed Shadab Khan earlier, piled on the pressure on the batters in the 14th over of the innings, conceding only five runs in his first five balls. He topped it off with a sensational yorker to send back Hales on the last ball. The England batter tried to bring his bat down but the ball curved back in sharply to crash into the base of leg-stump. Hales’ 49-ball stay at the crease contained three sixes and four sixes.

In his very next over, Irshad got the wicket of Asif Ali with yet another ‘slinga’ special: the slow yorker. Asif tried to go across the line and hit towards leg-side, but the ball dipped wickedly, skimming past his inside edge before crashing onto the stumps.

Irshad had also dismissed Asif when the two sides last met in PSL 2022. He had played just 16 top-level T20 games before this season, but has enjoyed a breakthrough campaign, with 15 wickets making him his side’s leading wicket-taker, and putting him second on the list among quicks from all teams.

The bowler ended Eliminator 1 with figures of 3-31 in his four overs, but his efforts could not stop Peshawar Zalmi from crashing out of the edition, with a 13-ball 19* from Faheem Ashraf and a two-ball 10* from Liam Dawson taking Islamabad over the line.

Watch Salman Irshad get two wickets with splendid yorkers during the Eliminator 1 of PSL 2022:

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