In Lahore, Peshawar Zalmi goes up against Quetta Gladiators.
At the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Quetta Gladiators kicked off their Pakistan Super League season with a victory over Peshawar Zalmi by a score of 16 runs.
Zalmi’s Saim Ayub (42 off 26) and Babar Azam (68 off 42) gave a great start for their team in the shape of a 91-run opening partnership, with an excellent score of 70 runs during the powerplay. This was done in order to chase a challenging target of 207. However, the innings was turned around by Saim’s run out of Rossouw in the ninth over, and Zalmi struggled to maintain momentum after that point. Babar, who had scored more than three thousand runs in the Pakistan Super League, reached fifty off just 29 balls before becoming Abrar Ahmed’s first of the two wickets in the sixteenth over. Both Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Wasim relied on yorkers to bring the score of the opponent down to 190/6 and bring the game to a close for their cricket team.
In addition, the Gladiators, who were granted the opportunity to bat earlier in the day, got off to a fantastic start thanks to their openers Saud Shakeel (74 off 47) and Jason Roy (75 off 48). An aggressive batting performance by the pair contributed to the establishment of a 157-run opening partnership, which was finally broken in the sixteenth over. This was made possible by a good running catch made by Babar, which was made by Shakeel, who was then awarded the Player of the Match award.
Even Salman Irshad’s three-wicket haul, which also included the dismissal of Sherfane Rutherford and Mohammad Wasim Jnr within the span of three balls, was not enough to prevent Gladiators from reaching an impressive total of 206/5, which proved to be more than useful on the day. The head start that was given was such that it was more than enough to prevent Gladiators from reaching such a score.
Brief Scores: Quetta Gladiators 206/5 (Jason Roy 75, Saud Shakeel 74; Salman Irshad 3-38) beat Peshawar Zalmi 190/6 (Babar Azam 68, Saim Ayub 42; Abrar Ahmed 2-29, Mohammad Amir 1-29) by 16 runs
Karachi Kings facing up against Multan Sultans, Multan
In the first game of the Pakistan Super League season, Multan Sultans defeated Karachi Kings by a score of 55 runs thanks to a clinical performance that allowed them get off to a strong start. Before limiting the Kings to 130/8, the Sultans produced a substantial total of 185/2 during the match.
After being invited to bat, the Sultans were able to achieve a score that was competitive thanks to half-centuries from Dawid Malan and Reeza Hendricks. However, there was a pause in the action during their 121-run stand for the second wicket. Subsequent to the early departure of Mohammad Rizwan, Malan and Hendricks displayed a positive batting performance, contributing to their team’s achievement of 53 during the powerplay. All the way up until the midway point, they kept up a consistent scoring rate, which contributed to the Sultans reaching 89/1 after 10 overs. Following that, however, things began to slow down as they approached four overs without any boundary being established. The drought was broken by Malan and Hendricks, who each hit a four off of Tabraiz Shamsi in the fourteenth over. Both batters also reached the fifty-run mark during this time together.
The Kings did an excellent job of containing the Sultans on a track that was holding up a little bit, but Hendricks and Khushdil Shah made sure that the batting side had a strong finish. After 17 overs, they were 144/2, and Malan was out to Daniel Sams before taking the wicket. But the last three overs were fruitful for the Sultans, as Shamsi fell for 17 and 11 and 13 came off the last two overs, which meant that the Sultans crossed the 180 barrier. Sams and Hasan Ali bowled the last two overs, and they were responsible for the last two overs.
One of the early setbacks that the Kings experienced in their pursuit was when David Willey delivered a double blow in the third over, which resulted in the dismissal of both James Vince and Saad Baig. The Kings were only able to score 36 runs during the powerplay despite the fact that Shan Masood and Shoaib Malik hit a couple boundaries. The Kings only managed to score 14 runs in the first four overs. In the eighth over, Malik struck two sixes and Masood managed to knock a boundary, bringing the total number of runs scored off the Shahnawaz Dahani over to 18. This was the big over that they had been looking for. Soon after that, however, Masood was dismissed by Usama Mir at a time when the Kings were struggling to score 67/3 after ten overs. He was unable to escape the deep.
Malik made an effort to keep his team in the chase by hitting a six and two fours off of Iftikhar Ahmed. He did this in order to reach fifty off of 34 balls. However, after reaching 99/3, the Kings fell to 101/7 as a result of two wickets taken by Abbas Afridi and Mohammad Ali in the 14th and 15th overs, respectively. Mohammad Ali completed with numbers of 3-23, while Kieron Pollard, who had just won the title in the ILT20, hit a couple boundaries. However, wickets continued to fall, and Mohammad Ali concluded with the figures. The only thing that Pollard could do was narrow the gap between them, which was still a substantial margin of defeat.
Brief scores: Multan Sultans 185/2 in 20 overs (Reeza Hendricks 79*, Dawid Malan 52; Mir Hamza 1-30) beat Karachi Kings 130/8 (Shoaib Malik 53; Mohammad Ali 3-23, Abbas Afridi 2-16) by 55 runs.
For in-depth PSL coverage, explore CricAdvisor for match highlights, player statistics, and more.
