Peshawar Zalmi Beat Quetta Gladiators By 24 Runs In PSL 7

LAHORE, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Feb, 2022 ) :Peshawar Zalmi all round performances overshadowed Will Smeed's enterprising 99 to beat Quetta Gladiators by 24 runs in the 22nd match of Pakistan Super League (PSL) here on Tuesday night at the Gaddafi Stadium.

Chasing a decent 186-run target, Gladiators batters failed to play with much needed application and promise with Jason Roy departing for 13, James Vince got out for a duck.

Apart from Smeed, it was Sarfraz Ahmed who scored fighting 25 and partnered a 53-run stand with the top scorer Smeed who at times revived hopes with flawless batting.

Smeed continued his hard-hitting by smashing the Zalmi bowlers to all parts of the ground by hitting three sixes and 12 fours in a 60-ball knock. Iftikhar Ahmed scored 10, while Umar Akmal fell cheaply at 1.

Smeed took the game deep as the 17th over of Salman Irshad was going well with two fours, but the turning point came when Salman 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, Zalmi were back into the game and their bowlers dominated with good show of skillful bowling.

From Zalmi, leggie Usman Qadir was the most outstanding bowler with sparkling figures of 3-25 in four overs. Liam Livingstone picked 1-24 in four overs, while Wahab, Talat, and Slaman also took one scalp each.

Earlier, Zalmi skipper Wahab Riaz won the toss and elected to bat first, Zalmi posted a 185-run total for the loss of seven wickets in 20 overs thanks to half century makers Shoaib Malik and Hussain Talat and fire work batting display by Ben Cutting with 36-run knock.

But Quetta's pacer Naseem Shah did the early damage with two wickets in one over of Hazratullah Zazai and Liam Livingstone to leave Zalmi at 2-6.

Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Haris forged a 52-run stand to hold the inning, while Malik showed his class and experience during the 58 run inning of 41 balls with eight fours. He also laid a good 73-run stand with Hussain Talat who also played well.

While in the late over, Cutting launched an onslaught with four sixes and one four in a blistering 36 run inning off just 14 balls.

Naseem was brilliant with the bowl as he registered figures of 4-27 in four overs, Shahzad, Iftikhar, and Mudassar took one scalp each.

Both the teams have six points from seven games each, but Gladiators are ahead of Zalmi based on net run rate (NRR) and currently placed at the fourth position in the points table.

Teams, Quetta Gladiators: Jason Roy, Will Smeed, James Vince, Sarfaraz Ahmed (c), Iftikhar Ahmed, Umar Akmal, Noor Ahmad, Sohail Tanvir, Naseem Shah, Ghulam Mudassar, Khurram Shahzad.

Peshawar Zalmi: Hazratullah Zazai, Ben Cutting, Mohammad Haris, Liam Livingstone, Shoaib Malik, Hussain Talat, Sherfane Rutherford, Wahab Riaz (c), Salman Irshad, Usman Qadir, Mohammad Umar.