Quetta Gladiators defeated Peshawar Zalmi by 6 wickets in the third match of Pakistan Super League played in Dubai on Friday. Zalmi had set a 156-run target for Quetta Gladiators to win the match. Umar Akmal hit 75 off 50 deliveries. He remained not out. Gladiators captain Sarfraz Ahmed scored 37 runs off 29 deliveries. In the first innings, Kamran Akmal and Misbahul Haq scored 49 each off 36 and 32 deliveries respectively. Misbah remained not out. Sohaib Maqsood scored 26 runs for his side off 29 deliveries. Mohammad Nawaz dismissed two Zalmi batsmen, while Ghulam Mudassir and Irfan Junior took one wicket each. Gladiators’ Captain Sarfraz Ahmed earlier won the toss, putting in rivals Zalmi to bat first in the match. In the first doubleheader of the tournament, Quetta Gladiators led by Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed was looking to exact revenge against the Darren Sammy-led Peshawar Zalmi who knocked them out by just one run in last year’s eliminator. Gladiators were banking on local talent in the form of batsman Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad, who along with Mohammad Asghar and Jalat Khan, added much needed power to the Gladiators squad.
For Gladiators, Australian all-rounder Shane Watson was the key foreign player. However, they were without the services of Windies spinner Sunil Narine who sustained a finger injury in the recently concluded Bangladesh Premier League, ruling him out of the early stages of the PSL. As a cover, Gladiators roped in Somerset’s Max Waller on a short-term deal for the injured Narine. They were also bolstered by the addition of Windies T20 stalwart Dwayne Bravo and Australian leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed, who came into the tournament after a decent showing in the Big Bash League for Sydney Thunder. Peshawar Zalmi, on the other hand, were boosted by the addition of experienced batsman Misbah-ul-Haq who was previously attached to Islamabad United. The one-time champions had in their ranks PSL’s all-time leading run-scorer Kamran Akmal and leading wicket-taker Wahab Riaz, who made Zalmi a force to reckon with. Hasan Ali and new signing Imam-ul-Haq had also added star power to the Zalmi squad. They were further strengthened with the addition of West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard.
Squads
Quetta Gladiators
Sarfraz Ahmed (c), Umar Akmal, Ahmed Shehzad, Shane Watson, Rilee Rossouw, Mohammad Nawaz, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Azam Khan, Saud Shakeel, Sunil Narine, Sohail Tanvir, Dwayne Bravo, Fawad Ahmed, Jalat Khan, Mohammad Asghar, Danish Aziz, Ahsan Ali, Ghulam Mudassar, Naseem Shah, Harry Gurney
Peshawar Zalmi
Darren Sammy (c), Kamran Akmal, Wahab Riaz, Hasan Ali, Sameen Gul, Khalid Usman, Umaid Asif, Liam Dawson, Misbah-ul-Haq, Kieron Pollard, Dawid Malan, Umar Amin, Sohaib Maqsood, Wayne Madsen, Nabi Gul, Jamal Anwar, Chris Jordan, Ibtisam Sheikh, Samiullah, Waqar Salamkheil.
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