Twitter Reactions: Peshawar Zalmi crush Quetta Gladiators to win PSL 2017

History beckoned Pakistan cricket when the PSL action moved to Lahore for the ultimate match of the season. Quetta Gladiators were up against the Peshawar Zalmi in the finals of PSL 2017. After 22 thrilling matches and a washed out affair, the two best teams were up against each other for the coveted silverware. Interestingly, both sides had met in the tournament thrice this year. The results were evenly matched and hence it was only safe to say that an even battle was on the cards. A win for each team and a nor result was their tournament clash history.

While the Peshawar Zalmi were lucky to have their overseas players serving them, the Quetta Gladiators had to rope in an entire new set of replacements to field a refurbished side on the all important day. Coming in to the game, Quetta skipper Sarfraz Ahmed called it right at the toss and opted to field first. Peshawar got off to a flying start with openers Kamran Akmal and Dawid Malan going great guns.

Malan perished just before the powerplay ended but Akmal rallied along for his 32-ball 40 with 6 fours and a six. At 82/2 at the half way stage, the Zalmis hoped for a launch in the second half. Things went horribly wrong for them as they struggled their way from 82/1 to 112/6 in space of 7 odd overs. However, it was Zalmi skipper Darren Sammy to the rescue. He clobbered a brilliant unbeaten 28 off mere 11 deliveries with 3 towering maximums and a four to take his side to a respectable 148/6 in their 20 overs.

The Quetta Gladiators backed themselves to do well and chase this down with ease. Having said that, they needed to put their act together with all their overseas stars playing their first match of the season. Things went haywire as they could never establish themselves in the run chase. Barring skipper Sarfraz Ahmed’s 11-ball 22 and Sean Ervine’s 19-ball 24, no other batsman looked comfortable at the crease. Wickets kept tumbling as Peshawar Zalmi bowlers shared wickets among themselves to eventually bundled out the Gladiators to a paltry 90 in 16.3 overs.

The Sammy-led Peshawar unit emerged victorious by 58 runs and created a little piece of history for themselves on the night. Here are the best tweets from the match:

https://twitter.com/iPakistaniLad/status/838459391078764544