Star all-rounder made 45* off 23 to help Peshawar chase down 129 after they had been reduced to 52/6.

By Abdullah Ansari (25th February, 2016)

Peshawar Zalmi Team

Tamim Iqbal, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Hafeez, Marlon Samuels, Sohaib Maqsood, Shakib al Hasan, Darren Sammy*, Shahid Afridi, Hasan Ali, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Asghar.

Quetta Gladiators Team

Ahmed Shehzad, Asad Shafiq, Kevin Pietersen, Rilee Rossouw, Sarfraz Ahmed*, Mahmudullah Riad, Hassan Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Zulfiqar Babar, Umar Gul, Tymal Mills.

Sammy won the toss and opted to field as Quetta made two changes with Mills and Gul replacing Perera and Anwar. Peshawar began the better of the two teams as Asghar got Shafiq stumped with a beautiful first delivery and then had Shehzad caught in the deep four balls later. Pietersen and Rossouw were circumspect as the bowlers bowled tight lines. Just as the latter started to get going, he was dismissed by Shakib for 38. Pietersen was next as he was caught off Asghar after making 41 off 43 balls. Sarfraz was run out while Mahmudullah was bowled by Wahab. Hasan Ali dismissed Nawaz and Wahab bowled a tight last over, with a run out on the last ball seeing Quetta all out for 128.

Zalmi's chase began with an 11-ball over as Zulfiqar couldn't get his lines right. The batsmen kept their wickets but progress was slow to start with Kamran doing the bulk of the scoring. Tamim was the first to fall as he was stumped of Mahmudullah's bowling. Samuels' promotion up the order didn't have the desired result as a pacy Mills delivery saw him caught with Amin taking a superb catch. Kamran was next, out LBW for 26 though replays showed he got a glove on it while Shakib was run out after a mixup with Hafeez. Maqsood and Sammy threw their wickets away to Mahmudullah on consecutive deliveries as Zalmi suddenly found themselves 52/6. However, Afridi batted sensibly while Hafeez stuck in there despite his struggles though he eventually fell to Mills for 22 off 33 balls. 40 were needed off the last four overs and Afridi led the way, hitting timely boundaries. Mills got Wahab caught behind to make the equation 16 off 8 balls but Hasan hit two fours to tilt the equation in Peshawar's favour, and Afridi needed no further encouragement, hitting two fours to finish it off as Zalmi won by 2 wickets with 4 balls remaining.

Next match: Islamabad United vs Karachi Kings

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