Quetta Gladiators 216 for 3 (Shakeel 59, Allen 53, Raza 1-31) beat Peshawar Zalmi 139 (Ayub 50, Talat 35, Abrar 4-42, Amir 2-11) by 80 runs
Quetta Gladiators swept Peshawar Zalmi aside, railroading them by 80 runs to get off the perfect start in the tenth edition of the PSL.
The win was set up by an imperious batting performance, with Finn Allen's whirlwind 25-ball 53 setting the tone for the rest of the innings. Saud Shakeel's own brisk half-century in Allen's slipstream got Gladiators off to a flyer in the powerplay. Hasan Nawaz, Rilee Rossouw and Kusal Mendis ensured there was no let-up as they set Zalmi 217 to win.
Zalmi's response never threatened to insert jeopardy into the game despite a 38-ball half-century from Saim Ayub on his return. Abrar Ahmed ran riot through the middle and lower order with four wickets as Zalmi lost six for 24 runs, with only an entertaining cameo from Australian Mitchell Owen sparing them an even bigger defeat.
Zalmi had won the toss and opted to chase, but that immediately pitted their weakest skillset against Gladiators' strongest. Ayub opened the bowling and went for 11, but that was almost economical in comparison to what happened to Zalmi's specialists. Alzarri Joseph and Mohammad Ali were flayed by Shakeel and Finn Allen as 65 came in the powerplay. When Zalmi's trump card Sufiyan Muqeem was called up, Allen smashed him for three sixes and a four off his first four balls, and even though Muqeem dismissed Allen off the over's final ball, the damage had been done.
Nawaz and Rossouw kept the momentum of the powerplay up through the middle overs, with emerging quick Ali Raza the only one to stem the flow of runs. However, Zalmi couldn't find the penetration to blast their way through the upper middle order into a less explosive lower order and a potentially long tail. Shakeel and Nawaz's departure only heralded the arrival of Mendis, whose destructive cameo - an unbeaten 35 off 14 - came as part of a rapid partnership with Rossouw, which brought 58 runs off the innings' final 23 balls.
Zalmi had never chased a total this big, and when Babar Azam chipped Mohammad Amir to short extra cover for a second-ball duck, it didn't look likely to change. Mohammad Haris and Ayub came together - perhaps the two best positioned to bat through a Zalmi powerplay. A few boundaries in a cameo of a partnership sent them on their way, but when Abrar latched onto a shot from Haris off his own bowling in the fourth over, it was followed up by a two-ball duck from Tom Kohler-Cadmore, and the tide turned irreversibly.
Hussain Talat resisted alongside Ayub as Zalmi worked frantically to keep their head above water, but with the asking rate approaching 14, even their best efforts saw their side chasing shadows. High-risk cricket was unavoidable, and a reverse sweep from Talat brought about his downfall. That opened the floodgates. Max Bryant clipped Usman Tariq back to the bowler the very next delivery, and a back-of-the-hand slower ball from Kyle Jamieson sent Ayub on his way soon after he reached his half-century.
Abrar returned to run through the lower order, and though Owen offered Zalmi some encouragement for death hitting in the remainder of their campaign, smashing four sixes in a 13-ball 31, it was short-lived. Amir returned to draw a top edge from the Australian, with Mendis getting underneath it sharply with the gloves. It was a clinical, professional end to a game where Gladiators had been exactly that.
