Alex Hales and Paul Stirling demolish Peshawar Zalmi attack in big PSL win

Stirling crunched an 18-ball half-century and Hales took just 54 deliveries over his unbeaten 82 as Islamabad cantered past their 169-run target with 4.1 overs and nine wickets to spare

Karachi: Peshawar Zalmi 168-6, Islamabad United 171-1 - Islamabad United won by nine wickets

A devastating display of power-hitting from Alex Hales and Paul Stirling saw Islamabad United to a crushing victory over Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League.

Stirling crunched an 18-ball half-century and Hales took just 54 deliveries over his unbeaten 82 as Islamabad cantered past their 169-run target with 4.1 overs and nine wickets to spare.

It was a chastening defeat for Peshawar, who on a deck which has proved excellent for batting in the early stages of the PSL found themselves 35 for 4 one ball after the powerplay.

Faheem Ashraf's miserly four-over spell of 2 for 23 set the tone for United, who rarely let their opponents off the leash.

^{Alex Hales made 82 not out as Islamabad United beat Peshawar Zalmi (Asif Hassan/AFP via Getty Images)}

Sherfane Rutherford battled his way to 70 from 36 deliveries, including three sixes, and received support from Ben Cutting and Shoaib Malik in the lower order, but the West Indian allrounder could not provide a challenging enough score on his own.

And the modesty of Peshawar's 168 for 6 became more and more apparent with every delivery faced by Hales and Stirling in the powerplay.

The Islamabad fifty was brought up in just three overs, and by the time Zalmi had finally managed to get rid of Stirling - run out by Wahab Riaz for 57 - 112 runs were on the board.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz continued where the Irishman left off, contributing 27 not out and acting as a useful foil for Hales, as victory was achieved without so much as a sweat being broken.

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