Peshawar Zalmi 204 for 5 (Babar 64, Ayub 46, Mir 3-32) beat Multan Sultans 200 for 5 (Iftikhar 64, Rizwan 32, Jamal 2-36) by four runs
Zalmi are the only franchise in Pakistan’s premier domestic T20 tournament that has beaten Sultans twice this season.
Sultans have already qualified for the playoffs with six wins from eight games and Zalmi moved closer to a place in the final four with nine points and two games in hand.
Babar and Ayub smacked Sultans’ pace and spin as they raised a rapid 84-run stand at 12-an-over.
Mir leads the bowling chart with 18 wickets, but his team-mate Mohammad Ali, who has 14 wickets, had a forgetful day against Ayub and Babar as he returned with expensive figures of 0-46 off his three overs.
Mir pulled back Zalmi with his sharp legbreaks as he dismissed Tom Kohler-Cadmore (5) and then got the key wicket of Babar in his last over by having him clean bowled before Rovman Powell (23) and Jamal (12) played little cameos in the last five overs.
Captain Mohammad Rizwan (32) couldn’t beat Jamal’s throw off his follow through while Asif Ali timed his jump to perfection on the edge of the boundary and plucked a brilliant catch to dismiss Dawid Malan (19) in the 12th over.
But Iftikhar and Jordan nearly pulled off a victory for Sultans with their blazing 75-run stand off just 28 balls but Zalmi’s pacers just about managed to hang on in the last three overs.
