Gladiators beat Zalmis in exhibition match of HBL PSL 8

Quetta: Quetta Gladiators on Sunday beat Peshawar Zalmi by 3 runs in a last over thriller exhibition match at Akbar Bugti Stadium in Quetta.

Peshawar Zalmi’s skipper Babar Azam won the toss and chose to bowl first against the gladiators and Wahab Riaz made a good star after ousting Ahsan Ali and Umar Akmal in the second over of the innings.

Gladiators, however, came into action in the second half of the innings to post a competitive total on the scoreboard. Wahab took three wickets against 47 runs in four overs.

Iftikhar Ahmed won the hearts by hitting Wahab Riaz for six sixes in the final over of the innings to lead Gladiators to finish with a high score of 184 and he remained unbeaten on 94 runs in 50 balls.

Iftikhar Ahmed smashed 6 sixes in a single over in the PSL exhibition match.pic.twitter.com/s3NRRmrcZl

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) February 5, 2023

Khushdil Shah, the middle order batsman, made 36 runs in 24 balls opener Abdul Wahid Bangalzai could score 28 in 19.

Sarfraz Ahmed, the captain of Gladiators, made four runs and was sent back to the pavilion by Aamer Jamal.

Peshawar Zalmi while chasing the target also made a good start as opener Muhammad Haris scored 53 runs and turned out to be a top scorer.  Shahid Afridi gave tough time to the international bowlers 27 years after his international debut.

Hasnain took three key wickets as he sent Babar Azam back to pavilion for 23, Azam Khan for six, Haseeb Ullah for 12 runs and led Gladiators to a strong position.

In the last over, Peshawar needed eight runs to win the match but Nasheem Shah bowled a brilliant over and gave only four runs to snatch victory for his team.

Later,  Iftikhar Ahmed was given player of the match for his brilliant innings of 94 runs.

Alhamdulillah - Aap sab ke pyaar ka bohat bohat shukriya. Proud of my contributions for @TeamQuetta in this brilliantly organised exhibition match by @TheRealPCB. I would like to congratulate the PCB Management & Chairman @najamsethi Sb on this initiative. Love u #Balochistan 🫶🏼 pic.twitter.com/ExutieLEby

— Iftikhar Ahmad (@IftiAhmed221) February 5, 2023