Daily Times

LAHORE: Peshawar Zalmi sparkled with both bat and ball as they defeated Quetta Gladiators by 24 runs in the 22nd match of the 7th edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) at Gaddafi Stadium here on Tuesday night. Chasing victory target of 186, Quetta could muster only 161 for the loss of eight wickets in their allotted overs. Except Will Smeed, the Quetta batsmen failed to play big knocks with Jason Roy departing for 13 and James Vince got out for a duck. Smeed played a brilliant knock of 99 off 60 balls with the help 12 boundaries and three sixes. He literally put the Peshawar bowlers to the sword. Skipper Sarfraz Ahmed scored 25 and forged a 53-run stand with Smeed. Iftikhar Ahmed scored 10, while Umar Akmal managed to score just one. Smeed remained the difference between the two teams as his miraculous knock almost pulled off a stunning win. He took the game deep till the 17th over with two fours. But the turning point came when Salman Irshad took his wicket on the last ball of his over as Smeed remained just one run shy of a much deserving century. After his departure, all the hopes for Quetta dashed as the Peshawar bowlers easily defended the runs. For Peshawar, leggie Usman Qadir was the pick of the bowler with brilliant figures of 3-25 in four overs. Liam Livingstone picked 1-24 in four overs, while Wahab Riaz, Hussain Talat and Salman claimed one wicket apiece.

Earlier, Peshawar made a respectable total of 185 for the loss of seven wickets in their 20 overs, thanks to Shoaib Malik and Talat’s fifties and late hitting by Ben Cutting in his fiery 36-run knock. Peshawar skipper Wahab won the toss and elected to bat first but Quetta’s pacer Naseem Shah did the early damage with two wickets in one over: Hazratullah Zazai (01) and Liam Livingstone (zero) to leave Peshawar at 2-6. But Shoaib and Mohammad Haris forged a 52-run stand to hold the innings. Shoaib showed his class and experience during the 58-run innings off 41 balls with eight fours. He also laid a good 73-run stand with Talat who hammered 51 off 33 balls. In the late overs, Cutting launched an onslaught with four sixes and one four in his 14-ball knock. For Quetta, Naseem ended with bowling figures of 4-27 in four overs, Khurram Shahzad, Iftikhar and Ghulam Mudassar took one scalp each.

Today’s match:

Multan Sultans vs Karachi Kings at 07:30 pm (PST)