Peshawar Zalmi maintain playoff push with victory over Quetta Gladiators

Shoaib Malik and Hussain Talat each scored a half-century for Peshawar Zalmi while Will Smeed smashed 99 in vain for Quetta Gladiators

Lahore: Peshawar Zalmi 185 for 7, Quetta Gladiators 161 for 8 – Peshawar Zalmi win by 24 runs

Peshawar Zalmi maintained their push for the playoffs with an 24-run victory over Quetta Gladiators in Lahore.

Shoaib Malik and Hussain Talat each scored a half-century as Zalmi posted 185 for 7 from their 20 overs and despite Somerset’s Will Smeed scoring 99 runs, Quetta Gladiators fell well short in their chase.

Zalmi are now fourth in the table, two points clear of Quetta Gladiators.

Naseem Shah ensured Peshawar Zalmi’s innings got off to a torrid start, dismissing Hazratullah Zazai (1) and Liam Livingstone (0) in the second over of the powerplay.

However, Wahab Riaz’s side quickly recovered, with Shoaib Malik putting on a quickfire 52 runs with Mohammad Haris (29) and a further 73 (47 balls) with Hussain Talat.

^{Naseem Shah picked up 4 for 27 on his birthday [Arif Ali/AFP via Getty Images]}

Malik (58 off 41) and Sherfane Rutherford fell in the space of seven balls to reduce Zalmi to 132 for 5 midway through the 16th over before 50-run (22 balls) sixth-wicket partnership between Ben Cutting and Talat pushed the scoreboard beyond the 180-mark. Cutting, in particular, cashed in at the death, dispatching Sohail Tanvir for four sixes in the penultimate over.

Peshawar Zalmi closed on 185 for 7, with Shah removing Cutting (36) and Talat (51) in the final six balls to finish with figures of 4 for 27 on his 19th birthday.

In reply, Quetta Gladiators also lost two early wickets – Jason Roy (13) and James Vince (0) – before Will Smeed took control, scoring 99 runs in his first appearance for the Gladiators since returning to the squad as a replacement signing for Ben Duckett.

The Somerset man enjoyed productive stands with Sarfaraz Ahmed and Iftikhar Ahmed, adding 53 runs (43 balls) and 42 runs (27 balls), respectively, for the third and fourth wickets.

However, following the dismissal of Iftikhar in the 16th over, the Gladiators lost a flurry of wickets to end any hope of a successful chase, with Umar Akmal (1), Smeed, Noor Ahmad (0) and Sohail Tanvir (2) all departing before close.

Usman Qadir was the pick of the Peshawar bowlers, collecting 3 for 25, while Salman Irshad (2 for 37), Livingstone (1 for 24), Riaz (1 for 39) and Talat (1 for 8) were the other wicket-takers.

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