Shahid Afridi of Peshawar Zalmi playing a shot in the Pakistan Super League T20 match against Karachi Kings at Sharjah Cricket Stadium in Sharjah. Pawan Singh / The National
Shahid Afridi of Peshawar Zalmi playing a shot in the Pakistan Super League T20 match against Karachi Kings at Sharjah Cricket Stadium in Sharjah. Pawan Singh / The National

PSL: Peshawar Zamli captain Shahid Afridi still the main attraction in Sharjah as Karachi Kings fall just short



Peshawar Zalmi 182-4

Hafeez 59; Bopara 2-31

Karachi Kings 179-9

Bopara 67, Vince 44; Riaz 2-29

Peshawar Zalmi won by three runs

SHARJAH // Different kit, same old story for Shahid Afridi. Wearing Peshawar yellow instead of Pakistan green for the first time at this ground, he enjoyed his usual acclaim as the most popular man in Sharjah as he led his Zalmi side past Karachi Kings.

Afridi has played 56 limited-overs internationals at this stadium. Never has he been short of support. Even though the competition is a new one, he was the main attraction, despite playing a relatively minor role in the three-run win in this Pakistan Super League match.

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Even though this game began during office hours, the atmosphere was buzzing again at the UAE’s oldest venue for cricket, reaching a frenzy when Afridi was on strike in the final overs of the Zalmi innings.

He finished not out on 17 after just nine balls, as he and Darren Sammy hoisted their side to an imposing 182 for four against an under-par Kings attack.

All of the Peshawar batsmen got starts. Mohammed Hafeez progressed his furthest, as he made a rapid 59 before being trapped in front by Ravi Bopara.

The Karachi franchise’s reply was comically bad at times, before Ravi Bopara and Sohail Tanvir saved face at the end of the innings.

The fact the Karachi batsmen struggled against bowlers such as Afridi, Wahab Riaz and Shaun Tait was perhaps forgivable. What was less so were the run outs, particularly that of Imad Wasim. The promising Pakistan all-rounder is an intelligent man who opted to forego studying to become a doctor to further his cricket career.

Gallery: Shahid Afridi's Peshawar hold on for victory against Ravi Bopara-inspired Karachi in PSL – in pictures

Yet he entirely took leave of his senses when strolling to make his ground as a throw arrived from the boundary. Even when he realised it was closer than he expected, he opted belatedly to try to step into his ground, instead of simply stretching his arm and bat to make his ground. He was on nought at the time.

Kings had seemed completely out of it at that point, England batsmen James Vince and Ravi Bopara tried their best to rectify the top order damage, sharing 61.

Once Vince went, Tanvir took up the slack, swinging away two sixes. But it was Bopara who marshalled the chase.

It was a triumph for the tournament, as a set of Pakistani expatriates in Sharjah were wildly celebrating a British Indian Essex boy, as he so nearly pulled off an unlikely heist.

Bopara, unwanted for England national duty but proving to be one of the stars of this tournament, blazed 67 from 33 balls to take the Kings to the brink.

He fell with five needed off the final three balls of Sammy’s final over. The West Indies captain kept his cool, though, to see his side over the line.

Star man - Ravi Bopara

For two games in a row, the Englishman has taken his side agonisingly close before pulling up short. Is he batting too low? Perhaps, or perhaps his top order need to do more to set up the run chases, and not leave so much on his shoulders.

Quite how England can afford to be without him at the World Twenty20 in India is another question, but he is not the only player who might be thinking that way at the PSL.

What they said

Darren Sammy, Peshawar Zalmi all-rounder: “It was a choice between me and the left-arm spinner [to bowl the last over] and I told the skipper to give it to me. This pitch is much better than the one in Dubai, because of the competition between the batsmen and the bowlers.”

Shoaib Malik, Karachi Kings captain: “Ravi, in the past two games, was the one who brought us close to the target. It is disappointing, but if you look at the way Vince and Bopara batted, we are just one step away from winning. We have to start winning.”

The National Verdict

Along with the Quetta Gladiators, Peshawar have looked the most consistently impressive side in the PSL to date, and yet it still feels like there is more to give.

This should have been more comfortable than the last over frenzy that it became. Still, though, neither their supporters nor the tournament organisers will be complaining too much about that.

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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
German plea
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the German parliament that. Russia had erected a new wall across Europe. 

"It's not a Berlin Wall -- it is a Wall in central Europe between freedom and bondage and this Wall is growing bigger with every bomb" dropped on Ukraine, Zelenskyy told MPs.

Mr Zelenskyy was applauded by MPs in the Bundestag as he addressed Chancellor Olaf Scholz directly.

"Dear Mr Scholz, tear down this Wall," he said, evoking US President Ronald Reagan's 1987 appeal to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.

Emergency

Director: Kangana Ranaut

Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry 

Rating: 2/5

'Moonshot'

Director: Chris Winterbauer

Stars: Lana Condor and Cole Sprouse 

Rating: 3/5

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”