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Sarfaraz, Watson marshal Quetta to the first place
Quetta Gladiators 158-4 (Sarfraz 45*, Watson 37) beat Peshawar Zalmi 157-5 (Smith 49, Watson 2-26) by 6 wickets
Match 23 PSL Quetta Gladiators vs Peshawar Zalmi – Quetta Gladiators beats Peshawar Zalmi in the 23rd match of HBL PSL3. Thanks to the splendid world-class partnership between the skipper Sarfraz Ahmad and Rilee Rossouw who gathered 74 runs, guided Gladiators towards last over the win. Man of the Match Sarfraz played a match-winning knock (45 off 31 balls), turning the lights off for Lahore Qalandars in this season of HBL PSL.
Partially fit Sammy helped Zalmi putting up a total of 157
In this season of the Pakistan Super League, Peshawar Zalmi is not been able to get a flying start. So was in the previous match but Dwayne Smith repaid with a flourishing innings top the order. 33-balls 49 compensated a decent start, but his departure Peshawar batsmen were there just for formality. Peshawar lost the momentum as the next four batsmen were dismissed for straight-forward balls ballooned up in the air in the inner ring. But the partially fit Zalmi captain – Darren Sammy was up to the task, he scored 36 runs just off 19 balls, as Peshawar Zalmi put up a decent score on the board. For Quetta Gladiators, Shane Watson and Rahit Ali picked up 2 and 1 wickets respectively.
Rossouw, Sarfraz guided Quetta towards last over victory
The top scorer of the HBL PSL3 Shane Watson set up the platform nicely for Quetta Gladiators in their surge of 157 runs chase. His brilliant knock of 37 runs and followed by a little sparkler from Kieven Pieterson brought Gladiators up to the asking rate. On the other hand, Zalmi bowlers were able to pick up wickets in quick succession when they delimited Quetta Gladiator 84-4. The professional, dedicated innings from Rilee Rossouw overstated the Zalmi bowlers, in the end. Despite the brilliant bowling efforts from Wahab Riaz and Hassan Ali they never looked like bowling it. In particular, Sarfraz Ahmad’s captain knocks never let the Zalmi bowlers settle down. Both the batsmen stole runs like the silent killer and brought Quetta Gladiators to the final over. The scores were level when Dwayne Smith was hit for a manufactured boundary out of Sarfraz bat. For Zalmi, Wahab Riaz and Hassan Ali picked up 2 and 1 wickets subsequently.
Peshawar Zalmi captain said:
Sarfraz and Rossouw used their experience and deserved to win. We have two games left, we want to win. Wahab Riaz is our leader of the bowling attack, Umaid and Hassan tried their best as well. We want to win the remaining two games.
Sarfraz Ahmad was the man of the match award winner
Sarfraz Ahmad was the man of the match. The captain’s innings stole 6 fours in no time.
When I came out to bat we needed 7.5 in an over. I told Rossouw the importance of partnership. He played really well. Our bowlers once again did a fantastic job once again. Now, we have two world-class players joining us “Jason Roy” and “Rashid Khan”, the challenge is to fit them in the team.
Quetta Gladiators goes no on top of the Points table
Quetta Gladiator with 10 points on the board, goes to the top of the points table. While Peshawar Zalmi with 3 defeats and 5 wins living dangerously on the 5th position. PSL3 also says goodbye to Lahore Qalandars, who can now not qualify for the next round.
