Quetta Gladiators have set Peshawar Zalmi a target of 217 after being put into bat first in the first outing for the two sides in the Pakistan Super League 2025 at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
The tenth edition of the HBL PSL formally began on Thursday with a glitzy opening ceremony in Rawalpindi.
Quetta got off to a rollicking start after being put into bat on a batting-friendly Rawalpindi pitch with skipper Saud Shakeel and New Zealand’s Tim Allen scoring 60 of the powerplay.
Allen really went after the left-arm leg spinner Sufiyan Muqeem in the seventh over, hitting three mammoth sixes before misqueing a shit towards long-on and being dismissed.
Saud continued to carry the momentum of the innings, scoring 59 of 42 with four boundaries and two sixes, which included an incredible lap shot off the bowling of seamer Alzarri Joseph.
South Africa’s Rilee Rossouw and Srilanka’s Kusal Mendis chipped in with a quick fire 21 and 35 respectively to take Quetta over the 200-run mark in the penultimate over of the innings.
Ali Raza, Sufiyan and Joseph picked up a wicket a piece for Peshawar as Quetta made their way to 216-3 at the end of 20 overs.
Earlier in the day, Peshawar captain Babar Azam won the toss and elected to bowl first.
On Friday, Islamabad United felt totally at home in the opener in Rawalpindi, making a flying start to their title defence with an eight-wicket victory over Lahore Qalandars.
After Jason Holder and United captain Shadab Khan restricted Qalandars to a meagre 139, opener Colin Munro helped the hosts cruise to it with 14 balls to spare, thanks to New Zealander’s half-century.
Teams:
Quetta Gladiators: Saud Shakeel (captain), Finn Allen, Hasan Nawaz, Rilee Rossouw, Kusal Mendis, Shoaib Malik, Faheem Ashraf, Kyle Jamieson, Mohammad Amir, Abrar Ahmed and Usman Tariq.
Peshawar Zalmi: Babar Azam (captain), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Haris, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Hussain Talat,, Max Bryant, Mitchell Owen, Alzarri Joseph, Mohammad Ali, Sufiyan Muqeem and Ali Raza.