Zalmi clinched an important win over Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League on February 15, coming out triumphant by 24 runs thanks largely to a superb spell by young wristspinner Usman Qadir.
Qadir bagged a magnificent three-fer (3/25) to top the bowling chart for Zalmi on the night and help his team defend their total of 185/7 on a flat batting surface with dew around.
Pakistan Super League 7 table
| # | Team | Matches played | NRR | Points |
| 1 | Multan Sultans | 7 | 0.688 | 12 |
| 2 | Lahore Qalandars | 7 | 0.785 | 10 |
| 3 | Islamabad United | 7 | 0.684 | 8 |
| 4 | Peshawar Zalmi | 8 | -0.489 | 8 |
| 5 | Quetta Gladiators | 8 | -0.285 | 6 |
| 6 | Karachi Kings | 7 | -1.232 | 0 |
The 28-year-old ran through the opposition’s middle-order, which allowed the rest of the Zalmi attack to also tighten up the screws. Captain Wahab Riaz (1/39) and Salman Irshad (2/37) proved a touch expensive, but their timely breakthroughs and Qadir and Liam Livingstone’s (1/24) miserliness made life difficult for the Gladiators’ batting unit.
QG could only reach as far as 161/8 in their allotted 20 overs, which also they managed largely because of Will Smeed’s 60-ball 99, including 12 fours and three sixes. Gladiators laced substantial support to his effort, with the next highest score for the innings being 25 off 21 from captain Sarfaraz Ahmed.
On the other hand, even as Gladiators’ pacer Naseem Shah’s outstanding spell (4/27) threatened to derail their progress, the Zalmi reached near the 190-mark thanks to a more collective batting effort. They had their veteran Shoaib Malik and fellow middle-order batter Hussain Talat making half-centuries. While Malik controlled the innings maturely with a sedate but crucial 58 off 41 balls, Talat played the aggressor and put the pressure on Gladiators with his 33-ball 51.
This middle-order duo was backed up brilliantly by allrounder Ben Cutting, who smashed a critical cameo of 36 runs off just 14 deliveries towards the end of the innings.
His knock, including four maximums, gave Zalmi an extra edge heading into the second half, and that was just about the right foundation for Qadir & co to operate with.
Brief scores
Peshawar Zalmi 185/7 in 20 overs (Malik 58, Talat 51; Shah 4/27) beat Quetta Gladiators 161/8 in 20 overs (Smeed 99; Qadir 3/25, Irshad 2/37) by 24 runs
