Watch: Mohammad Amir Loses Temper After Babar Azam Strikes Him For Boundary

Babar Azam-led Peshawar Zalmi clinched a thrilling victory against Karachi Kings in their first appearance in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). Peshawar won the high-scoring clash by just 2 runs, pulling off a desirable start to the tournament. While both teams were involved in an intense rivalry, a heated event transpired during Peshawar’s batting in the first innings. Karachi pacer Mohammad Amir lost his cool after being punished for a boundary by Babar. He vented out his frustration after the next delivery which was a dot.

Peshawar got off to an abrupt start, losing their two top-order batters- Mohammad Haris and Saim Ayub- in the second over. However, Tom Kohler-Cadmore joined hands with Azam and steered the innings out of trouble. After taking a couple of overs to settle down, the pair went on to accelerate the innings and took them to 58 runs during the powerplay.

Amir came in to bowl the final over of the powerplay. After some top-notch deliveries, the right-arm quick was smashed for a boundary down the fine leg by Azam in the penultimate ball. He bounced back well in the next one. The change of pace baffled the Peshawar captain who only managed to defend it. Amir collected the ball in his follow-through and threw it towards the keeper.

The action did not go down well with Karachi batter Shoaib Malik who addressed the matter after the match. Malik said this sort of incident in professional cricket may not be a new thing but the cricketers should not forget about the “respect element.” Although, he made it clear that this type of competition is “good for the league” and “encourages the players to deliver their best.”

“I’ve seen Amir, Imad and Babar. Whenever they meet, they greet each other with respect. In this room, you won’t be compatible in the same way with everyone. Some would gel up well, you’d like some and you might not like some others. But that would only be on a professional basis. I’m sure you all respect each other too,” the veteran cricketer explained at the post match press conference.

Coming back to the cricketing action, Babar Azam’s 68 and Tom Kohler-Cadmore’s blistering 92, Peshawar posted a mammoth 197-run total on the board. Despite a poor start to the chase, Karachi went quite close to victory as Shoaib Malik registered 52 runs off 34 deliveries, while captain Imad Wasim played an unbeaten knock of 80 runs in 47 balls.

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