Will Smeed’s 99 went in vain as an all-around show by the Peshawar Zalmi helped them overcome Quetta Gladiators by 24 runs in the crucial 22nd match of this year's Pakistan Super League (PSL) at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.
Chasing a huge 186-run target, Gladiators batters failed to play a huge knock with Jason Roy departing for 13 and James Vince getting out for a duck for the second straight game. Apart from Smeed, it was Sarfraz Ahmed who scored 25 and forged a 53-run stand with Smeed.
Iftikhar Ahmed scored 10, while Umar Akmal managed to score just one as Smeed single-handedly resisted the victory march of Zalmi before becoming the victim of nervous nineties for the second time this season. Smeed continued his hard-hitting by smashing the Zalmi bowlers to all parts of the park by hitting three sixes and 12 fours in a 60-ball knock.
He took the game deep as the 17th over of Salman Irshad was going well with two fours, but the turning point came when Salman took his wicket on the last ball of his over as Smeed remained just one run shy of a much deserving century. After his departure, all the hopes for Quetta dashed as Zalmi bowlers easily defended the runs.
For Zalmi, leggie Usman Qadir was the pick of the bowler with brilliant figures of 3-25 in four overs. Liam Livingstone picked 1-24 in four overs, while Wahab, Talat, and Slaman also took one scalp each.
Earlier, Zalmi handed a 185-run total for the loss of seven wickets in 20 overs courtesy of Shoaib Malik and Hussain Talat's fifties and late hitting by Ben Cutting in a fiery 36-run knock.
Zalmi skipper Wahab Riaz had won the toss and elected to bat first, but Quetta's pacer Naseem Shah did the early damage with two wickets in one over of Hazratullah Zazai and Liam Livingstone to leave Zalmi at 2-6.
Malik and Haris forged a 52-run stand to hold the inning, while Malik showed his class and experience during the 58 run inning of 41 balls with eight fours. He also laid a good 73-run stand with Hussain who also played well.
While in the late over, Cutting launched an onslaught with four sixes and one four in a blistering 36 run inning off just 14 balls.
Naseem was brilliant with the bowl as he registered figures of 4-27 in four overs, Shahzad, Iftikhar, and Mudassar took one scalp each.
The win means Zalmi go ahead of Gladiators for a battle to secure the play-off spots with elimination now glaring its eyes on the Gladiators.
Multan Sultans with 12 points have already qualified for the play-offs while Qalandars are also a step shy with 10 points on the table. Islamabad United are now on third with eight points over a better run rate than Zalmi who also have the same eight points. Gladiators are on six points and are most likely to join Karachi Kings to an early exit from the event.