Hales' 62 knocks out feisty Peshawar Zalmi

Islamabad United were bruised, battered, and depleted, but like their opener Alex Hales, they returned with a bang, securing a spot in the second Eliminator. In a humdinger of a contest where momentum swayed back and forth, United sneaked home with three balls to go, eliminating Peshawar Zalmi.

It was the returning Hales who spearheaded the win, punishing Zalmi dearly for reprieving him on multiple occasions, top-scoring with 62 off 49. Defending 170, Zalmi kept pegging United back with tight overs and occasional wickets, but the power-hitting depth of United won out in the end. Cameos from Azam Khan and Faheem Ashraf, followed by a six and a four from Liam Dawson off the only two balls he faced ensured United stayed alive in a pulsating contest.

United's inherent advantage lies in the number of players they have who can hit the ball a long way, and so even as the asking rate crept above 10, they always seemed to hold the slight edge. The patchiness of Zalmi's bowling didn't quite help, with brilliant deliveries and overs followed up by ordinary ones. Salman Irshad was sensational, particularly in the middle overs when two searing yorkers got rid of Hales and Asif Ali. Conversely, skipper Wahab Riaz endured a horror night, spanked for 52 in four crucial overs that allowed United to squeeze ever closer to their target.

With the outcome on a knife's edge until the last delivery, each side could reflect on key passages won and lost. For Zalmi, Mohammad Haris didn't find his timing early on, and threw his wicket away, and while Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal rebuilt, the run rate never quite had United worried.

The returning Shadab Khan bowled a sensational first three overs, prising Akmal out just as he began to threaten. It wasn't until the final five overs that Zalmi properly pushed the pedal, realising perhaps that they were well off the pace. Twenty-one came off the final Shadab over and 62 off the final five as Malik brought up a half-century and Hussain Talat struck 28 off 15.

Zalmi might also look back on the chance to remove Hales for a duck off the fifth ball of the chase when Haris missed a colossal stumping chance off mystery spinner Ali Majid. The luckless Majid manufactured another opportunity against the Englishman in the third over, only for Khalid Usman at extra-cover to put it down. Zalmi were tempting fate, and slowly finding theirs was being taken out of their own hands.

Aside from that drop, Usman had a near-spotless day, his four-over spell the most economical of the game. Bowling out his quota in the first ten, he had United reined in, allowing just 17 runs and cleaning up opener Will Jacks. When Irshad removed Shadab Khan, the asking rate was creeping up to 10, though United's repository of power hitters meant it wasn't a huge problem just yet.

Irshad was spectacular through the middle, plugging some of the damage Hales and Azam Khan were inflicting on Wahab Riaz at the other end. But despite three crucial wickets, the presence of Azam and Faheem continued to signal danger for Zalmi, and when the bowlers missed their lengths, they were punished with huge sixes. That kept the game in a holding pattern of sorts right down to the final over, which began with United needing ten. Azam's dismissal off the first ball was followed, in true United fashion, by Dawson whacking his first two balls for ten.

As Wahab Riaz's dream ended, the veteran Pakistan bowler collapsed to his knees, unable to stem the tears. The contrast of emotions with a jubilant United side, somehow still alive in a tournament where fate was almost conspiring to kill them off, was both jarring and touching. It was a game full of flaws from both sides, but that almost made it perfect.