Umar Akmal wisely steers Quetta to a convincing win

LAHORE: Umar Akmal with a wisely-developed unbeaten innings of 75 runs steered Quetta Gladiators to a six wickets win in the third match of the fourth Pakistan Super League at Dubai International Stadium Friday night.

Zalmi that had the first blow to its campaign to regain the title saw things going opposite to its planning right from the start. As of the two-time finalists, Gladiators maintained a proper balance after having early blow to its batting.

In their chase of 155 runs of Zalmi’s, Gladiators scored 161 runs for four wickets with two balls to spare. Umar played sensibly after a long time. He not only kept rotating the strike but also hit his shots at the same time. He finished off the match with a massive six to deep mid-wicket to Kieron Pollard. The required run rate was of above six but Umar along with his captain Sarfraz Ahmed maintained above eight run rate. The run rate dropped only when Wahab Riaz targeted Sarfraz as Sammy leached to the ball at the covers. Sarfraz was then at 37, which was laced with three fours and a six. But Umar joined by Dwayne Smith, overhauled the score in the final over to have a fairly convincing win for Gladiators.

Umar in his innings faced 50 balls also hit seven fours and three sixes. Shane Watson and Rossouw had 19 runs each, after their opener Ahmed Shehzad was out for a duck on the first ball. Wahab Riaz with two wickets while Hasan Ali and Umaid Asif with one wicket each had success with the ball from Zalmi attack that was put to sword by Umar. Earlier, Peshawar Zalmi set a 156-run target for Quetta Gladiators for the loss of four wickets. Kamran Akmal and Misbahul Haq scored 49 each off 36 and 32 deliveries respectively. Misbah remained unbeaten. Sohaib Maqsood scored 26 runs for his side off 29 balls. Mohammad Nawaz dismissed two Zalmi batsmen, while Ghulam Mudassir and Irfan Junior took one wicket each. Gladiators’ captain Sarfraz Ahmed earlier won the toss, putting in Zalmi to bat.