Iftikhar’s fifty recovers Gladiators to 154/4 against Zalmi, KARACHI In- form batter Iftikhar Ahmed’s gritty half- century recovered Quetta pugilists to a competitive154/4 against Peshawar Zalmi in the ninth match of the Pakistan Super League( PSL) season eight.
Put into club first, the pugilists raised154/4 despite a dismal launch at the reverse of a magnific half- century by Iftikhar. pugilists openers Jason Roy and Martin Guptill started cautiously against a disciplined bowling attack of Zalmi as they could 28 runs in the power play before the ultimate lost his gate in a hopeless attempt to go big. Guptill could score 12 off 16.
Following his redundancy , leg- incentive Usman Qadir struck doubly in his successive overs; removing Roy( 14) and Mohammad Nawaz( 2) as the pugilists slipped to37/3 in the ninth over. Following the depression, commander Sarfaraz Ahmed and Iftikhar anchored the innings with a gritty 74- run cooperation for the fourth gate and broke the impediment.
Meanwhile, Arshad Iqbal castled Sarfaraz in the 17th over to dent the pugilists ’ march to a big aggregate. The commander could score 39 off 30 deliveries and hit five boundaries. Iftikhar, still, held his ground establishment and kept charging on the Zalmi bowlers in the death overs and entered significant support from all- rounder Odean Smith, who struck a blistering 12- ball 25.
Iftikhar top- scored for the pugilists with 50 off 34 deliveries, laced with two boundaries and four sixes. Qadir led the bowling attack for Zalmi with2/26 while Arshad and James Neesham could make one crown.
