Babar ton powers Zalmi to big win

An unbeaten century from Babar Azam, his 12th in T20 cricket, powered Peshawar Zalmi to a huge 118-run win over Quetta Gladiators. Having already qualified for the playoffs, Zalmi have now assured themselves of a top-two finish.

Signs of a run-fest appeared in the very first over when Mohammad Haris slammed two sixes and a four. Even though he was dismissed in the next over, Kusal Mendis took charge and put on a show in the Powerplay. Babar got going with successive boundaries off Abrar Ahmed whereas Kusal smashed two sixes against Alzarri Joseph as Zalmi raced to 74/1 in just 5 overs.

The carnage continued post the Powerplay as well with Kusal welcoming Saud Shakeel into the attack with a 16-run over. With Babar remaining solid at the other end, it was Kusal who did the damage with plenty of boundaries while also bringing up his half-century. The century stand finally came to an end when Kusal was denied a ton by Usman Tariq, falling for an excellent 44-ball 83. The scoring rate still never dropped though as every batter came in with intent to plunder boundaries.

Farhan Yousuf chipped in with a cameo and once he departed, Babar hammered two sixes in the space of four deliveries to turn on the heat. More sixes followed off Babar's bat as he went from 62 off 39 to 94 off 48 in a flash. Once Aaron Hardie did his best to drag Zalmi past 250, the stage was set for Babar to complete his ton. Needing two off the last ball for his century, Babar drove one towards long-on and immediately set off for a double, putting in a desperate dive to bring up three figures for the third time in his PSL career.

With a daunting target of 256 ahead of them, Gladiators made just six runs from the first two overs – a start in complete contrast to Zalmi's. Mohammad Basit then piled on the agony with the wickets of Saud Shakeel and Rilee Rossouw off successive deliveries. At the end of the Powerplay, they were reeling at 42/3. When Michael Bracewell struck immediately in the seventh over, the game was pretty much done.

Wickets continued to fall in heaps with Hardie chipping in with two wickets in a single over. At one point, even surpassing three figures seemed tough before Bevon Jacobs cleared the ropes thrice to save his side from embarrassment. The Gladiators were finally bowled out for 137 in the penultimate over. They are still tied with three other teams on six points but have played an extra fixture.

Brief scores: Peshawar Zalmi 255/3 in 20 overs (Babar Azam 100*, Kusal Mendis 83; Abrar Ahmed 1-44) beat Quetta Gladiators 137 in 18.1 overs (Bevon Jacobs 34; Ali Raza 3-9, Mohammad Basit 3-26) by 118 runs.