Shajrah: Peshawar Zalmi won the battle of the top teams in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) when they stopped the formidable Quetta Gladiators by eight wickets at the Sharjah Stadium on Sunday.
Though Quetta rested Kevin Pietersen and Luke Wright, Kumar Sangakkara, who is now free from his commitments with the Masters Champions League, bolstered the team. Peshawar too rested their star batsman Tamim Iqbal but the contest was still exciting with Peshawar winning mainly due to a superb spell from their skipper Shahid Afridi, who returned with figures of four overs, one maiden, seven runs and five wickets.
The drama began from the fifth over after Quetta won the toss and elected to bat. Wahab Riaz was hit for a six over long on by Ahmad Shehzad. Bowling at tremendous pace Riaz bowled Shehzad with the next ball and an ugly spat broke out between the two. Wahab was fined 40 per cent and Shehzad 30 per cent of their match fees. Riaz then vent his anger on Sangakkara by bowling him for a duck with a ball that nipped back to hit the bails. Afridi then took charge and destroyed the Quetta batting line up with his five-wicket spell. Grant Ellliott (40) and last man Zulfiqar Babar (20n.o) managed to lift Quetta from 66 for 9 to 129 all out in 18 overs.
Sarfraz Ahmad, the skipper of the Quetta team, hailed Afridi’s spell. “Shahid bhai (brother) bowled brilliantly, it was an also a nice opportunity to test our bench strength.”
Chasing the moderate total, Peshawar opener Mohammad Hafeez and Dawid Malan put on 60 runs in 8.2 overs before Hafeez fell for 36. Kamran Akmal fell for 17 after steering the team past the 100-run mark. Malan remained unbeaten on 60 off 52 balls with six boundaries and one six to win the match with eight balls to spare.
Brief scores: Peshawar Zalmi bt Quetta Gladiators by 8 wkts. Quetta Gladiators 129 in 18 overs (Ahmad Shehzad 21, Grant Elliott 40, Wahab Riaz 2 for 19, Zulfiqar Babar 20, Shahid Afridi 5 for 7) Peshawar 130 for 2 in 18.4 overs (Mohammad Hafeez 36. Dawin Malan 60n.o) Man of the match: Shahid Afridi.
Today’s match: 8pm: At Dubai International stadium: Lahore Qalandars vs Quetta Gladiators
