Umar Akmal upstaged his elder sibling Kamran to guide Quetta Gladiators to a comfortable six-wicket win in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) clash against Peshawar Zalmi at Dubai.
Umar struck an 75 (50) unbeaten containing three sixes and seven boundaries as Quetta chased down Peshawar’s total of 155-4 with two balls to spare.
Having been put into bat first, Kamran Akmal gave Peshawar get an excellent start despite Mohammad Irfan dismissing Andre Fletcher early into the innings.
Kamran’s 49-run (36) was brought to an end by Mohammad Nawaz who also dismissed Kieron Pollard for just three.
However, Misbah-ul-Haq shored up Peshawar’s innings once again in the company of Liam Dawson with the former Islamabad United skipper’s unbeaten 49 (32) helping his side post 155-4.
Umar Akmal finishes it in style. A convincing victory for @TeamQuetta they are one up in this season's Gladiators-Zalmi clash.#QGvPZ #KhelDeewanoKa #HBLPSL pic.twitter.com/rk6YDdXMVJ
— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) February 15, 2019
Hasan Ali then gave Zalmi a roaring start with the ball by dismissing Ahmed Shehzad for a golden duck off the very first delivery of the innings.
Shane Watson and Rilee Rossouw got starts but were unable to push on further before Umar Akmal and skipper Sarfraz Ahmed took control of Quetta’s innings.
Umar brought up his half-century off just 35 deliveries in a controlled innings mixed with equal parts aggression and sensible rotation of the strike.
Sarfraz’s 37-run knock was ended by the excellent Wahab Riaz who finished with figures of 2-18 and in the process became the first bowler to bring up 50 PSL wickets.
Umar, though, continued t march on and finished off the game in the last over with a delightful six off Pollard.
BRIEF SCORES
Peshawar Zalmi: 155-4 (20 overs)
Kamran Akmal: 49 (36)
Misbah-ul-Haq: 49 not out (32)
Quetta Gladiators: 161-4 (19.4 overs)
Kamran Akmal: 75 not out (50)
Wahab Riaz: 2-18 (four overs)
