Shoaib, Wahab power Zalmi to emphatic win against Gladiators S.

KARACHI -- Shoaib Malik's second half-century of the season and captain Wahab Riaz's threefer handed Peshawar Zalmi a 30-run win over Quetta Gladiators at the Pindi Cricket Stadium on late Thursday. In a contest truncated to 15 overs per innings because of a delayed start due to rain, the 38-yearold smashed a 27-ball 54, playing a crucial role in taking his side's score to a mammoth 170 for six after Sarfaraz Ahmed, the Quetta Gladiators captain, elected to field first. Malik crafted a 54-run partnership for the thirdwicket with 19-year-old Haider Ali, who made 39 runs from 24 balls with four fours and two sixes, after the dismissals of both openers inside the Powerplay overs the first five overs for this match. Zalmi lost Imam-ulHaq, playing his first match of the season, in the second over and the pressure amplified on the batting side with the dismissal of Kamran Akmal, who scored 23 off 12 balls and struck two fours and two sixes, in the fifth over. But, the partnership between Malik and Haider followed by Lewis Gregory's quickfire eightball 19 coming on the back of two sixes took Zalmi to a daunting total.

Gladiators' pacer Mohammad Hasnain starred with the ball with four wickets for 34 runs in three overs, the maximum allocation of overs for a bowler for this match. Gladiators were provided a flying start by the opening pair of Jason Roy and Shane Watson as they accumulated 27 runs in the first two overs. But, Hasan Ali brought Zalmi back into the contest in the third over of the match by giving away only six runs. In his next over, the fifth of the innings, Hasan put the first dent in the run-chase with the wicket of...