Smeed's 99 in vain as Peshawar Zalmi hold off Quetta Gladiators

Will Smeed fell just one short of a century, as his 99 from 60 balls wasn't enough for Quetta Gladiators to cross the line in their pursuit of 186 against Peshawar Zalmi. Although Smeed lost his opening partner Jason Roy and No. 3 James Vince early, he started the repair work in the company of Sarfaraz Ahmed, with whom he added 53.

After Gladiators started with 34 off the first four overs, the Zalmi bowlers combined to keep them quiet, as only 73 runs came from the next ten overs. By then, Hussain Talat had sent back Sarfaraz, and Usman Qadir and Liam Livingstone had in total bowled seven overs for just 46, including a wicket each.

Gladiators required another 79 to win from 36 deliveries, with Smeed at 59 from 41 balls at that stage. But he still kept them afloat, taking Wahab Riaz for 16 in the 15th over, smashing two of his three sixes off the seamer. But Qadir turned the screw in the next over, removing Ifthikar Ahmed and Umar Akmal in the space of five deliveries to finish with 3 for 25. Smeed was pretty much left all alone to push for the remaining 60 off the final four overs, as he clattered Wahab for three fours before pinching two more off Salman Irshad in the 18th. However, Irshad had Smeed bowled off the final ball.

Earlier, Naseem Shah had reduced Zalmi to 6 for 2 in the second over before Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Haris got together to revive their side. After a quiet four overs, they took 17 off Khurram Shahzad, as Haris hit him for three boundaries and Malik one. But Ghulam Mudassar ended the stand just after the powerplay, grabbing a caught-and-bowled chance on the second attempt to get Haris for 29.

Mailk then found another able partner in Talat, with the pair adding 73 in less than eight overs. They maintained the tempo, as Malik got to his fifty off 37 balls in the 13th over, which went for 15, including three boundaries. And although Shahzad had him for 58 two overs later, Talat continued finding the fence.

After Talat got to his half-century, the finishing act belonged to Ben Cutting, who got into Sohail Tanvir with four sixes in the 19th over: one down the ground, the next over midwicket, a third over extra cover and finally again beyond midwicket. Naseem got two wickets in his final over, which was also the last of the innings, and finished with 4 for 27, but a lack of support for Smeed with the bat meant Gladiators fell short by a considerable margin in the end.