Twitter Reactions: Haider Ali stands tall in a breathless encounter between Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators

It was time for the second match of the day as the Peshawar Zalmi were set to take on the Quetta Gladiators. Zalmi won the toss and as expected opted to bowl first. The previous match had seen 160 being chased down with ease and the Gladiators knew that they needed a big score on the board to stand a chance in this game.

They got off to a decent start scoring 42 runs in the powerplay at the cost of only one wicket. They now needed to accelerate in order to score some big runs. Faf du Plessis did his bit scoring 37 runs but it was Sarfaraz Ahmed who stole the show.

If one captain had shown his class in the previous game, it was now time for another to do the same. Sarfaraz played a mind-boggling inning of 81 runs off just 41 deliveries. His knock included 12 boundaries and a solitary six. The finishing touches were provided by Azam Khan who scored 47 runs off 26 balls to take his team to the score of 198 at the end of their 20 overs.

All-round batting effort helps Peshawar chase down a mammoth total

Saqib Mahmood was by far the best bowler as he took three wickets conceding only 34 runs in his four overs. Mohammad Imran was economical as he gave away only 25 runs in his four overs and also got a wicket to his name. A target of around 200 is never an easy one and the Peshawar side needed an excellent batting display to win this game.

They started off poorly with the bat as their score was 27-2 at the end of four overs. It seemed like the Quetta side had a stronghold on the game. However, Imam-ul-Haq and Haider Ali had other plans as they took the attack to the opposition. Ali was the top scorer of the inning as he managed to get a fifty.

The main job though was done by the finishers this time around. Shoaib Malik scored 34 in 20 balls, Sherfane Rutherford scored an unbeaten 36 off 18 balls, and Wahab Riaz scored 20 runs in just eight balls. This finishing impetus helped Peshawar win the game by three wickets with three balls to spare. This was the third straight loss for the Quetta Gladiators and they would quickly need to get things in place to bounce back strongly in the tournament.

Here are the best tweets