Peshawar rout — Mendis century

Kusal Mendis turned a Pakistan Super League match into a mismatch on April 9, blasting 109 from 52 balls as Peshawar Zalmi piled up 246 for 3 and then bowled Karachi Kings out for 87. The margin was 159 runs, which ESPNcricinfo and BBC Sport both described as the biggest win by runs in Pakistan Super League history. (espncricinfo.com) (bbc.com) The score looks even stranger when you see how the innings started. Mohammad Haris got out for 0 in the first over, and Peshawar were 0 for 1 before Mendis and Babar Azam added 191 for the second wicket. (espncricinfo.com) (cricbuzz.com) Mendis did the damage at a strike rate above 209, hitting 14 fours and 4 sixes in a knock that lasted 52 balls. Babar Azam stayed unbeaten on 87 from 51, which meant Karachi’s bowlers were dealing with one batter scoring at sprint pace and another making sure the innings never stalled. (espncricinfo.com) (cricbuzz.com) Then Abdul Samad showed up for the last 12 balls and hit 40 not out, with 3 fours and 4 sixes. Peshawar scored 49 runs after Mendis got out in the 17th over, which turned a huge total into a near-impossible chase. (espncricinfo.com) (cricbuzz.com) Karachi Kings had chosen to bowl first at National Stadium in Karachi, so their plan was to chase under lights. Instead, they lost Muhammad Waseem for 0, David Warner for 0, and Salman Agha for 5, and the chase was effectively broken at 8 for 3. (espncricinfo.com) (cricbuzz.com) No Karachi batter reached 30. Azam Khan top-scored with 25 from 27 balls, while Saad Baig made 14, and the team was all out in 16.1 overs at a run rate of 5.38 after needing 12.35 an over from the start. (espncricinfo.com) (cricbuzz.com) Peshawar’s bowling spread the damage across three different bowlers. Nahid Rana took 3 for 7 in 4 overs, Sufiyan Muqeem took 3 for 18 in 4 overs, and Iftikhar Ahmed took 3 for 9 in 2.1 overs. (espncricinfo.com) (cricbuzz.com) For Mendis, the innings landed in a league that is built for fast scoring but still rarely sees one batter dominate this completely. ESPNcricinfo’s match report called the stand with Babar Azam the platform for a record-breaking result, and BBC Sport noted that the hundred pushed Mendis into the front rank of run-scorers in this season’s tournament. (espncricinfo.com) (bbc.com) The bigger picture is that Peshawar did not win with one hot over or one collapse at the end. They recovered from 0 for 1, built a 191-run partnership, finished with 246, and then reduced Karachi to 33 in the six-over powerplay and 81 for 9 before the innings ended. (espncricinfo.com) (cricbuzz.com) That is why this result will stick. A century in Twenty20 cricket is already rare enough; a century that sits inside the largest runs win the Pakistan Super League has seen is the kind of innings that gets remembered long after the points table moves on. (bbc.com) (espncricinfo.com)