Kamal Ghorui
A light moment involving Salman Naseer and Babar Azam went viral after Peshawar Zalmi’s win over Quetta Gladiators, with the PSL CEO seen performing a gesture to ward off the ‘evil eye’ for the Zalmi captain.Meanwhile, on the field, Peshawar Zalmi extended their lead at the top of the table and strengthened their position with an eight-wicket win over Quetta Gladiators at the National Bank Stadium on Wednesday, moving closer to playoff qualification.
After being asked to field first, Zalmi bowlers, led by Sufiyan Muqeem and Iftikhar Ahmed, restricted Quetta Gladiators to 154 all out in 20 overs, with limited contributions from the batting line-up.In response, Zalmi chased down the 155-run target with nine balls to spare, losing just two wickets. Captain Babar Azam led from the front with an unbeaten 71 off 51 balls, hitting 10 fours. He added partnerships with Mohammad Haris and Kusal Mendis as Zalmi completed the chase without much difficulty.The result marked Zalmi’s fifth consecutive win, the first time they have achieved this in their history in the tournament, and their sixth victory overall in the 11th edition.Babar Azam also continued to add to his records in T20 cricket during this season. He recently became the fastest player to reach 12,000 runs in the format and remains the only cricketer in PSL history to score 4,000 runs. He has also become the fourth batter overall to register 100 half-centuries in T20 cricket.
