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On a day of nail-biting encounters, Pakistan Super League's (PSL) most underrated side Quetta Gladiators defeated the high-flying Peshawar Zalmi by three wickets on Sunday to remain unbeaten in the tournament.
Chasing 136 for victory, Quetta needed 7 off the last over when Zimababwe's Elton Chigumbura smashed Peshawar's Wahab Riaz for a boundary to bring Sarfraz Ahmed's side home with three wickets to spare.
Earlier, the Gladiators’ skipper Sarfraz won the toss and put Zalmi in on a relatively easy wicket.
In their allotted 20 overs, Zalmi stuttered but Darren Sammy's blistering 31-ball 48 propelled them to 135. Left-arm spin sensation Mohammad Nawaz was the pick of the bowlers for Quetta with figures of 4-29-3 and was ably supported by Umar Gul who chipped in with two wickets.
In the chase, Quetta's successful opening pair of Ahmed Shehzad and Luke Wright put 35 inside 4 overs before both were dismissed. Zalmi captain Shahid Afridi accounted for Wright while Aussie paceman Shaun Tait snapped up Shehzad.
England discard and T20 superstar Kevin Pietersen then smashed 35 off 29 balls to add impetus to the Quetta chase of which the finishing touches were added by Anwar Ali and Chigumbura.
Nawaz was once again awarded the man of the match for his brilliant spell.
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On DawnNews
Comments (53) Closed
Feb 08, 2016 12:43am
Congrats.. great game of cricket,, amazing spirit
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Feb 08, 2016 12:44am
It was a good match!
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Feb 08, 2016 12:45am
We want 180 above runs in 20 overs. we dont want 130 or 140 runs.
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Feb 08, 2016 12:46am
Well done sarfraz
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Feb 08, 2016 12:49am
what a game!
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Feb 08, 2016 12:55am
Love for Quetta all the way!!!!
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Feb 08, 2016 01:07am
Great games well done PSL
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Feb 08, 2016 01:09am
Only 1 fifty so far 8 games.joke or what.even umpires can spin here. Just shows how good shehzad is on these over used surfaces
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Feb 08, 2016 01:11am
Great game. Low scores do not matter much as long as the game is not one sided. I enjoy a defensive battle more than 6's being hit everywhere! Congratz on putting on a team match to watch. Thank you for your efforts.
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Feb 08, 2016 01:19am
An amazing match, and an amazing tournament so far. PSL has been a success and is here to stay!
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Feb 08, 2016 01:23am
Well done & Cong Sarfarz / ur team, Kevin, Nawaz, Anwar. Sarfarz you are real captain of T20 and ODI. God with you.
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Feb 08, 2016 01:34am
Wahab Riaz is senior player of Pak and Zalma Peshawar his attitude behavior was not good, Wahab discourage young talent future all rounder Nawaz aggressive, Wahab you lost your temper and lost match, similar one spell in loosing w/c 2015. You should have big brother and treat other nicely.
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Feb 08, 2016 02:00am
more such games will boost PSL
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Feb 08, 2016 02:01am
Sarfaraz wont let down. Sarfaraz dokha nahi deyga! From Adelaide, Australia!
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Feb 08, 2016 02:16am
Awesome match
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Feb 08, 2016 02:31am
Spinners and PSL are spinning away to be the most entertaining piece of T20 games of today. Now no one can stop this Runaway Train except for Mismanagement of PCB of course .
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Feb 08, 2016 02:37am
It's time to make safaraz the ODI captain........, he is proving himself
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Feb 08, 2016 02:50am
Very happy for Quetta. We need to have next of this tournament in the country, even if it takes strict security arrangements under the Rangers or even Pak Army. It is possible and doable with a little courage. The rewards and impact will be huge.
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Feb 08, 2016 02:58am
Sarfraz Ahmed is a better captain than Afridi, malik , Azhar ali or misbah
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Feb 08, 2016 03:02am
No point it won't be a success empty stadiums needs to be played in pakistan otherwise it's failed
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Feb 08, 2016 03:09am
Great work Quetta !
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Feb 08, 2016 03:25am
Wow Quetta is unbeatable so far. My heart beats for peshawar and I hope peshawar wins the remaining matches.
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Feb 08, 2016 03:36am
We enjoyed watching this match. Multan also needs PSL team.
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Feb 08, 2016 04:54am
@Lafanga It's slow dubai pitch with big ground...Had the PSL been played in Pakistan, it might have been possible in some grounds.
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Feb 08, 2016 05:10am
PSL is so far proving to be very competitive in terms of the bowlers bowling tightly and preventing batsmen from scoring freely. It is also encouraging batsmen to dig their heals when chasing scores. It is a good contest overall.
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Feb 08, 2016 05:19am
Lafanga stop trolling and watch IPL if you want to watch run fests. There are more than one formulas to make interesting viewing and this is one of them. Deal with it. Read the rest o the comments, people don't want the same old 180 plus scores shoved down their throats any longer. Thanks
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Feb 08, 2016 05:49am
What a stunning game.
Well done Gladiators.
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Feb 08, 2016 06:08am
I don't mind low score games if they are exciting. It's probably because the quality of bowling is slightly better than other T20 leagues as there is no dearth of bowlers on this side of the border (even likes of kP are not at ease here!). Batting wickets, poor quality of bowling and too much power hitting has taken charm away and it's rare that I enjoy an IPL or BPL game now. Big Bash (Australia) is probably the benchmark as it has a good balance of bat & ball with quality bowlers and batsmen.
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Feb 08, 2016 06:26am
Quetta rocks....
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Feb 08, 2016 07:34am
Just amazing.
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Feb 08, 2016 08:14am
Pakistan has found a super star in Mohammed Nawaz and an equally good bowler in Mohammed Asghar- what a find and has made the effort of Pakistan Cricket Board worthwhile. Unfortunately no batsman worthy of mention has come to the party including, tried and tested ones so an exit in the early rounds of T-20 World Cup is likely. The one player Pakistan was banking upon was Ahmed Shezad, but three of his four innings were dismal. He should sit with the batting coaches to see as to where he so often perishes after a shaky start.
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Feb 08, 2016 08:23am
Again what happened to Ahmed Shehzad.Is he going to score in only one game out of 1o and compare himself with other greats
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Feb 08, 2016 08:38am
For that we need to bring indian bowlers here :D @Lafanga
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Feb 08, 2016 09:00am
Karachi kings is the worst team.its just a hype.
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Feb 08, 2016 10:25am
Excellent gameplay! Very exciting and competitive. Kudos to Sarafaraz for his captaincy. Salams
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Feb 08, 2016 11:18am
Above all it should be a crowd puller to make it viable...
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Feb 08, 2016 11:26am
thumbs up Quetta
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Feb 08, 2016 12:29pm
@Nz - T20 were created just for the sole purpose of entertainment and run fests. If you want to watch low scoring boring encounters then please go and watch ODI or test matches. Low and slow scoring games defeats the purpose of T20. Do you think T20 games were created so that we could watch a technically correct batsman show his various forms of defense and single taking abilities? Why do you think IPL is such a success and PSL is unable to fill it's stadiums merely two days after it started? Did you see the stadium for the last two days? They were emptier than my bank account.
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Feb 08, 2016 12:41pm
@Rahul
Empty stadium not because of low scoring, it's because the games are in Dubai. Also, don't forget the bowling factor too.
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Feb 08, 2016 01:02pm
@Aqil Siddiqi - so what if the games are in Dubai? How does that matter? And what about the bowling factor? It's mostly the batting factor which falls well behind international standards.
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Feb 08, 2016 01:11pm
@Rahul Well looks like IL has got a competition and it's hard for some people to digest.
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Feb 08, 2016 01:15pm
@Free me Who told u 1 fifty its more than five fifties.
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Feb 08, 2016 01:17pm
@Rahul Stadiums are empty because 100% of Pakistani Indian population is going on work they dont have time but when ever they have leave they come to watch as you see on Thursday night and Friday i m also living in UAE. and even IPL matches are also not full house in UAE in working days.
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Feb 08, 2016 01:18pm
@Pakistani Democrat - LOL be serious dude. I mean patriotism is one thing but one must also be real. IPL is miles ahead of PSL in both money and exposure. You cannot even hold a match in your own country. How can you even begin to compare yourself with a tournament which has been running house full for every match since its inception. PSL could not even manage to bring in crowds three days in a row. You're now playing in front of empty stands and the best excuse one of you could come up with is that it's been played in Dubai.
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Feb 08, 2016 02:04pm
Who was the genius who decided to prepare a turning and slow wicket for T20???
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Feb 08, 2016 02:09pm
@Khan - *"Who was the genius who decided to prepare a turning and slow wicket for T20???"*
I know right. And people here are going on and on about the excitement of low scoring matches whereas the empty stadiums tell a different story.
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Feb 08, 2016 02:36pm
A very competitive match where both teams fought till the end. Well done Quetta for crossing the line and well played Peshawar for giving it your best try. We loved it :)
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Feb 08, 2016 02:40pm
Rahul , again, there is more than one formula to make interesting viewing in the same arena. Please read this as general life lesson not specifically T20. It's what they call ingenuity and variety. Test are finishing in 4 days too and no one seems to be minding that. This is good for cricket. Monotony will kill it. Again, if you are into run fests go watch IPL. No one is stopping you.
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Feb 08, 2016 02:51pm
the way it is going ..we may see Quetta and Peshawar in final .....I am loving the fact that pitches have something to offer to the bowlers ..unlike other T-20 leagues ..where due to dead surfaces ...bowlers have almost no rule in turning the game around ...good job PSL ...
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Feb 08, 2016 03:14pm
@Nz again, of course there are more than one formula for success in life and I hope that works out for you, but again I reiterate, the sole purpose for the idea of T20 was to come out of the monotonous regime of excruciatingly boring test matches and to an extent ODI's and create something exciting for the viewers. The essence of T20 cricket is to score as many runs as possible in the stipulated time frame and let the other teams chase it down. Low scoring games would make T20 monotonous and low octane like the tests used to be. It's like asking a neurosurgeon to cure kidney stones. People are already so bored of the low score affair that they have stopped showing up in the stadium for the last two days.
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Feb 08, 2016 03:24pm
@Rahul Okay, Ill leave you with your set ways of compartmentalised cricket; tests are excruciatingly boring, T20 should be a run fest and ODI is a game for technically correct batsmen. Cant argue with that stance. Cheers:)
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Feb 08, 2016 04:25pm
@FREE ME looks like you are watching some other tournament, in PSL so far out of 7 matches 6 fifties have been scored. Unnecessary criticism at its best.
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Feb 08, 2016 07:00pm
I think, Quetta gladiator is balanced and reasonably strong time. They have advantage of good coach and captain. Together, coach and captain are giving team confidence and keeping them together, making them give their best for the team on ground. Quetta captaincy is quite good, as on field team is playing gel together, and is not showing sign of nervousness or carelessness (even though occasionally, Sarfarz himself shows sign of nervousness). Of all the teams, I believe Quetta with players they have and especially leadership they have, they would win the tournament.
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