Peshawar Zalmi overcame its defeat in the last game with a six-wicket victory over Quetta Gladiators in Pakistan Super League 2020 this Saturday (February 22).
Gladiators won the toss and batted first at the National Stadium; the team posted a modest total of 148/5 despite opener Jason Roy's half-century (73) and a quickfire forty (41) from captain Sarfaraz Ahmed.
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Wahab Riaz (2/21), Mohammad Amir Khan (1/24) and Hasan Ali (0/22) bowled exceedingly well for Peshawar.
In the run-chase, opener Kamran Akmal who smashed the opposition bowling attack away to all corners, scoring a blistering hundred (55-ball 101) and almost singlehandedly taking his team past the finish line; no one from the Gladiators bowling attack survived the great onslaught.
Brief scores:
Quetta Gladiators 148/5 in 20 overs (Jason Roy 73; Wahab Riaz 2/21) lost to Peshawar Zalmi 153/4 in 18.3 overs (Kamran Akmal 101; Fawad Ahmed 2/40) by six wickets.
In the other game on Saturday (February 22), Islamabad United proved too good for Multan Sultans at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, clinching victory by eight wickets to put its first winning points on the table.
Batting first, the Sultans did finish with a fighting total of 164/8, with James Vince (42) and Zeeshan Ashraf (50) making the stand-out contributions despite insignificant support from the rest of the batting line-up.
Amad Butt bagged four wickets in his spell (4/27) for the team United.
Islamabad, in response, didn't find any trouble in racing past the finish line as the likes of Luke Ronchi (74), Colin Munro (50) and Dawid Malan (35) dominated their way through towards the goal post and enabled their team's easy win.
Mohammad Ilyas (1/17) and Shaheen Afridi (1/25) picked up a wicket each but at the end, it felt as if the Sultans were around 20-30 short of an ideal score.
Brief scores:
Multan Sultans 164/8 in 20 overs (Zeeshan Ashraf 50; Amad Butt 4/27) lost to Islamabad United 165/2 in 16.4 overs (Luke Ronchi 74; Mohammad Ilyas 1/17) by eight wickets
