PSL: Lahore Qalandars secure victory, beat Zalmi by 6 runs

Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara was joined by Gladiators as skipper Sarfraz won the toss and made a decision to bat first.

Peshawar Zalmi needed 42 runs in five overs with six wickets in hand, but Cooper’s splendid show after the unfortunate run out of Shahid Yousuf for 16 decisively turned the tide in Qalandars’ favour. Shahid Afridi put Lahore Qalandars to batting and Junaid Khan put Qalandars into early trouble by getting Chris Gayle only on the 3rd ball of the match.

The Lahore Qalandars, who will also take on the Quetta Gladiators in the 18th match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL 2016) on Tuesday, kept their playoff hopes alive with a thrilling win against Peshawar Zalmi on Saturday night, according to Daily Times.

The win has also taken the Peshawar Zalmi to the top of the points table replacing the Quetta Gladiators with net-run-rate separating them. Both teams have qualified for the play-offs and will face each other in the first qualifier on Friday.

The veteran all-rounder destroyed the Quetta middle order with his incisive leg-spin bowling at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium to restrict the Gladiators to 129 in 18 overs.

But Mohammad Hafeez (36) got struck in Nawaz (1-38) smashing him for 15 runs in the fifth over as the Zalmis reached 41 for naught in the powerplay. However, Grant Elliott, on the back of two consecutive Man-of-the-Match performances, led a late rally, slamming a 29-ball 40 and adding a world record 63 for the final wicket with Zulfiqar Babar.

For Zalmi, Brad Hodge was brought in for injured opening batsman Tamim Iqbal. In reply Peshawar openers Muhammad Hafeez and Dawid Malan were very cool and calm as they had 60 runs partnership.