In the second PSL encounter at the Gaddafi Stadium, Quetta Gladiators upset Peshawar Zalmi in a closely contested match, winning by 16 runs.
Zalmi won the toss and chose to field first, however Jason Roy and Saud Shakeel, both of whom blasted the Zalmi bowlers all over the park, stormed the innings with their raw might in the first 15 overs and accumulated a massive partnership of 157 runs.
After serving in the dugout for the previous 33 games, Saud Shakeel was given his maiden shot in the PSL with the Quetta Gladiators. He scored 74 runs off 47 balls and made his debut fifty. Throughout the inning, the left-hander hit four sixes and six fours. Roy, on the other hand, led the innings with 75 runs off of 48 balls after playing a consistent innings.
Saim Ayub failed to catch the ball cleanly early in the innings, and the DRS verified that the ball grazed the ground first, allowing the left-handed Pakistani opener to survive.
At the conclusion of the first inning, the Gladiators had amassed a commanding score of 206-5 thanks to the efforts of pinch hitter Sherfane Rutherford and skipper Rilee Rossouw.
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Salman Irshad, a bowler for Peshawar Zalmi who was born in Rawalakot, was the best of the bunch. He completed his 3-38 session and prevented the Gladiators from reaching a score of 225 with his superb death bowling.
In response, middle order batters Saim Ayub and Babar Azam scored 91 runs together in just 8.4 overs, paving the way for the middle order batsmen to secure a victory for the Zalmi.
After a misunderstanding between the two batsmen, Khwaja Naffay, a PSL rookie, ran out of the game and Saim Ayub threw his wicket away.
In the second innings, the Zalmi captain hit 68 runs off of just 42 balls with a brilliant performance. Babar also reached 3000 runs in his 78th PSL game.
When he dismissed right-handed hitter Tom Kohler Cadmore and the dangerous Babar Azam in the 16th over, Gladiators' mystery spinner turned the tide of the match. Abrar Ahmed and Akeal Hossein both took wickets off the surface, which was very beneficial for the spinners.
Quetta Gladiators defeated Peshawar Zalmi thanks to the incredible death bowling antics of Muhammad Amir and Muhammad Wasim.
Quetta won the first two points of PSL season 9 as Saud Shakeel recorded his first-ever fifty in the PSL and was chosen man of the match.