Sharjah: Peshawar Zalmi captain Darren Sammy won the hearts of everyone at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday night.
Following an injury which forced him to leave the field after taking two Quetta Gladiators’s wickets, Sammy limped to the batting crease in pain after finding his team slipping to defeat.
Peshwar needed 17 runs off the last nine balls when Sammy walked in and he lifted his team to victory with an invaluable unbeaten 16 runs.
It is this fighting spirit that has made Sammy the most revered cricketer among foreign players in the PSL.
Talking about his brave knock after receiving the man of the match award, Sammy said: “I knew when it came to hitting a few balls I was always going to come out. The coach backed me up even when I told him that I couldn’t walk. I have been in situations like these before and you look at the equation you need to get.”
When Sammy got to face the first ball after his partner Khalid Usman took a single, Peshawar needed 16 runs off the last seven balls and Sammy smacked Rahat Ali for a six over long on. Sammy said how he eased the pressure thinking that a win is just three big hits away. “Seventeen is just three hits away and that is what I was thinking. I just needed to hit three sixes. I backed myself and they did bowl some balls in my area and we always have these games with Quetta that go down to the wire.”
Sammy refused to take full credit for the victory. “We needed that win today. We did it well to bring it back after the start we had. The credit must go to the bowlers, the way (Sameen) Gul bowled and everyone backed him up very well. We need to celebrate today and come back hard on Saturday. I am going to go for an MRI tonight. I’ve hurt my knee cap but my adrenaline keeps me going. I guess with my experience I keep backing myself to connect these balls.”
When Gulf News asked Peshwar’s opener Tamil Iqbal as to how much of an effect will Sammy’s knock have on the team, he said: “Sammy has been in our team from the beginning. We all know that he is a character. He showed it today, especially when everything was against him, and he did it for the team. It was an unbelievable innings and not to forget his bowling too. He brought us back into the game (taking two wickets). Sammy deserves all the credit.”
Iqbal also revealed that his team’s bowling played a big part. “I personally thought at one point that Quetta will score 160 or 170 the way they were going. Wahab (Riaz) and the others bowled brilliantly in the last five overs and restricted them to a decent total for us. They kept on losing wickets, which was a bonus and we bowled exceptionally well in the last five overs.”