Watch: Alex Hales crunches Jimmy Neesham for mammoth six over cover-point in blistering PSL half-century

Watch: Alex Hales hit Jimmy Neesham for a glorious six in the PSL today (March 16) on his way to a blistering half-century for Islamabad United against Peshawar Zalmi.

Having flown over for the second half of the competition, Hales had been yet to find his stride before his innings in the eliminator. Opening the batting, he was starved of the strike at first and had only faced one ball by the start of the fourth over. But, when Wahab Riaz came onto bowl, he hit him for four boundaries in one over including a straight six.

Back on strike to Neesham in the ninth over, he unleashed his biggest shot of the match. He stood still in the crease and opened up the face of the bat, generating power and elevation on the shot. The ball pinged off his blade and sailed over the cover-point boundary for an 87-metre six.

Hales inflicted more pain on Neesham off the final ball of his over as well, tickling a wide ball past the keeper and down to the fine leg boundary. He brought up his fifty off 29 deliveries in the 13th over off Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman. But, Amar Jamal castled his stumps with a superb yorker two overs later.

What had looked a pretty comfortable chase for Islamabad United up until that point changed with Hales’s dismissal. From 128-1, the collapsed to 171-6, losing five wickets in the final six overs.

Islamabad had needed 52 from their final five overs, but finished 13 runs short of their target and were eliminated from the competition. Multan Sultans are already in the final and therefore favourites in the cricket betting.