Zalmi beat Gladiators by 24 runs

LAHORE: Peshawar Zalmi outclassed Quetta Gladiators in the 22nd match of the Pakistan Super League here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Tuesday night.

Quetta’s batter Will Smeed, who missed his century by a run, battled out alone to get reprieve for his team but Zalmi maintained a tight leash till it was over. Veteran all-rounder Shoaib Malik, Hussain Talat and Ben Cutting played a big role in Peshawar Zalmi innings to harvest 185 for seven. Quetta Gladiators on their part returned with 161 for eight. Zalmi with their 24 runs win now stand fourth at the points table.

Table toppers Multan Sultans will play against bottom team Karachi Kings in the 23rd match of the league on Wednesday. Peshawar, with early hiccups, took control of the match by posting a good total and then tamed Quetta well enough with only Smeed being uncontrollable.

Liam Livingstone and Usman Qadir had early breakthroughs for Zalmis with the wickets of Jason Roy and James Vince. At 29 for two by fourth over, Smeed and Sarfaraz Ahmed resisted Zalmis till their score reached 82. Talat made Sarfraz lift the ball at midwicket to Livingstone at 25 in 21 balls.

Smeed was the only to fight out in the middle as he kept scoring runs at one end and desperately watched Iftikhar Ahmed (10) and then Umar Akmal giving away their wickets.

As the required ask reached 15-plus, Sohail Tanveer joined Smeed with the latter taking full responsibility started hitting big. His cautious batting got him 99 in 60 balls but Salman Irshad clean bowled him in the 18th over. It was then almost also over for Quetta, which later witnessed the fall of Noor Ahmed and Sohail.

Usman was the star in Zalmi attack with three wickets. Salman Irshad had two while Livingstone, Wahab Riaz and Hussain Talat chipped in with one apiece. Malik, who cracked 70th half century of career, was also an architect of two very useful and score consolidating partnerships. He marched in when Zalmis were two down for six in the second over. From there on Malik joined opener Mohammad Haris and they together scored 52 runs. The departure of Haris at 29 in 19 balls invited Hussain Talat at the crease. Malik and Talat tactically blew every Quetta bowlers to earn 73 runs in between them. Malik went home after getting 58 in 41 balls laced with eight fours while Talat continued scoring in the same fashion and also completed his half century.

In the course of time, he (Talat) saw Ben Cutting cut loose, at Sohail Tanveer hitting four sixes and a four in the 19th over. He made rapid-fire 36 in 14 balls as of Talat, he posted 51 in 33 balls with the help of six fours and a six and both these batter also had a 50 runs partnership. It was Naseem, who silenced Cutting in the final over and just conceded three runs to apply breaks there and then in Zalmi’s score development.

Batting first, the Zalmi started off poorly and Quetta pacer Naseem Shah provided early breakthrough with the wickets of Hazaratullah Zazai and Liam Livingstone, and then took another two important wickets of Cutting and Talat in the final over. He was the most economical bowler with figures of four for 27 while Khurram Shahzad, Ghulam Mudassar and Iftikhar Ahmed shared one wicket each.