Malik, Talat score half-centuries as Zalmi defeat Gladiators by 24 runs

Will Smeed’s 60-ball 99 went in vain as Shoaib Malik and Hussain Talat scored half-centuries to guide Peshawar Zalmi to a 24-run victory over Quetta Gladiators in their Pakistan Super League match in Lahore on Tuesday.

Batting first, Zalmi posted a total of 185 runs for the loss of seven wickets. Chasing the target, Gladiators managed to reach only 161/8 in their allotted 20 overs. Malik and Talat steadied the innings by scoring 58 from 41 balls and 51 off 33 balls respectively after Zalmi made a faltering start by losing their opener Hazratullah Zazai just on 1 run followed by Mohammad Haris 29 and Liam Livingstone (0).

Ben Cutting hit a 14-ball 36 to help Zalmi reach a decent total. For Gladiators, Naseem Shah clinched four wickets while Khurram Shahzad, Ghulam Mudassar and Iftikhar Ahmed bagged one each. Earlier, Islamabad United’s left-arm fast bowler Waqas Maqsood dropped a catch off his final ball but still ran out Chris Jordan of Karachi Kings to clinch a dramatic one-run victory in the Pakistan Super League on Monday.

Karachi, led by Pakistan skipper Babar Azam, agonizingly finished on 190-8 for their seventh loss in a row and were eliminated from the playoff race with three league games still to go. Islamabad jumped to No. 3 with eight points from seven games behind table-toppers Multan Sultans (12 points) and Lahore Qalandars (10 points).

Imad Wasim (55) and Pakistan Under-19 captain Qasim Akram (51 not out) had narrowed Karachi’s target to eight runs off the final over with their 108-run sixth-wicket stand, thanks to at least three dropped catches by the sloppy Islamabad fielders. Wasim hammered Maqsood (3-34) to fine leg for a boundary off the second ball before he holed out at mid-off off the next delivery.

Needing two runs off the last two deliveries, Maqsood held his nerve to clean bowl Jordan Thompson off a slower delivery before hitting the wickets at the non-striker’s end after dropping Jordan’s return catch. Little cameos from Faheem Ashraf (29 off 10 balls) and Asif Ali (28 off 11 balls) had earlier lifted Islamabad total to 191-7 with left-arm spinner Wasim picking up 2-30.

Islamabad sorely missed their skipper Shadab Khan’s, who had to leave the field with a strained groin while fielding in only the second over of Karachi run-chase. Asif perfectly filled the shoes of his skipper and chipped in with 2-27 and could have got few more had Islamabad held on to their catches.

Agencies