Watch: Babar Azam's bet to bowl Saim Ayub pays off as Alex Hales perishes to a peach

Peshawar Zalmi skipper Babar Azam stole the limelight in the ongoing game against Islamabad United on Monday (4th March). The 20th match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2024 is taking place at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi.

Peshawar Zalmi won the toss and opted for the field first. Skipper Babar Azam surprised the opposition and the fans early up with his move. He gave away the ball straight to his opening batter Saim Ayub and the move paid off immediately as the bowler removed Alex Hales on the first ball.

Saim Ayub bowled a peach of a ball that swung away to completely fox Alex Hales. The batter tried to flick this carrom ball but it swung away like an outswinger from a good length and hit the top of the middle stump. The right-hander opened up to play the flick and expose his stumps.

Here’s the video

Gone first ball 😲
Middle stump rattled 🎯 Saim Ayub spins a web of magic! 🕸️ #HBLPSL9 | #KhulKeKhel | #IUvPZ pic.twitter.com/QCVYAi1inP

— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) March 4, 2024

Saim Ayub was elated with the wicket on the first ball. More so, skipper Babar Azam was joyous with his move paying off. Alex Hales had no clue to the delivery by the young opening batter of Saim Ayub and it came out of nowhere.

Saim Ayub didn’t stop there as he then removed other opening batter of Islamabad United. The young opener removed Colin Munro in the third over the game and made sure that he took his team off the flying start in the ongoing PSL 2024 game in Rawalpindi.

Saim Ayub bowled a full delivery that turned away outside off stump. Colin Munro tried to launch the ball over the off-side but he didn’t get the proper connection as the ball caught the bottom of the bat and it turned on impact with the ball.

Babar Azam, who was at the cover, moved back a bit to take a simple catch. Colin Munro scored 15 runs off 9 balls and it came as a huge blow for Islamabad United as the batter was looking dangerous and had already smashed one four and one six in his innings.

Islamabad United posted 196 runs against Babar Azam’s team in Rawalpindi

After the great start by Saim Ayub, Babar Azam’s team couldn’t capitalize on the start they had as Islamabad United batters made sure they went big. Agha Salman (37) bailed the team out of trouble with his valiant knock but the hero of the innings for Islamabad United was their skipper Shadab Khan.

Shadab Khan played a magnificent innings of 80 runs off 51 balls. He had a strike rate of 156 in his innings as he slammed 4 fours and 6 sixes in his innings. After he got out, Jordan Cox (26) and Azam Khan (29*) helped Islamabad United post a big total of 196 runs on the board.

For Peshawar Zalmi, apart from Saim Ayub, Luke Wood and Salman Irshad also bagged one wicket each. The onus will be now on skipper Babar Azam and Ayub to take the team off to a great start and guide the team to the win in the match.