Faheem Ashraf five-for leads Gladiators' demolition job of Zalmi

Quetta Gladiators continued their resurgence with a comfortable win over Peshawar Zalmi, with Faheem Ashraf's five-wicket haul helping skittle Zalmi out for 114 and sealing a 64-run win.

Gladiators started brightly after being sent in to bat, with Finn Allen taking charge in the first four overs, and Rilee Rossouw picking up after Allen was dismissed for a breezy 16-ball 31. Four boundaries in the final over of the powerplay off Ali Raza saw Gladiators surge to 67 in six overs, before a tidy eight-over spell of spin bowling saw Zalmi drag them back.

Sufiyan Muqeem and Saim Ayub bowled four overs each and as Gladiators failed to dispatch them, the wickets fell, too. Ayub removed Rossouw in the tenth over before a slightly less fluent innings from Saud Shakeel also came to an end. Their eight overs allowed just 57 runs, and a pair of tight comeback overs from Raza and Alzarri Joseph dragged Gladiators back further.

But as has happened so often this tournament, inaccuracy at the death let the bowling side down as Mark Chapman went after Raza's final over, smashing three boundaries and plundering 17. Joseph and Luke Wood kept the Gladiators below 180, and Zalmi appeared to have shaded the first innings, sitting prettier than they had after the onslaught of the powerplay.

But Gladiators needn't have worried. When Ayub smashed Amir away for a first-ball four and Babar Azam slapped Faheem for a six and a four off the bowler's first two deliveries, it was a false dawn. Faheem struck back, drawing extra bounce from the surface to surprise Ayub and coax a nick that Kusal Mendis clung to behind the stumps. Four balls later, Amir had Babar trapped plumb in front, and Zalmi's resistance appeared to melt away as Gladiators surged.

Mohammad Wasim was finding inswing, and also found Tom Kohler-Cadmore's stumps with a lovely full-length ball nipping in to reduce Zalmi to 32 for 3. In disarray, they prioritised caution over run-scoring, and in the end achieved neither. When top-order slogger Mohammad Haris found Rossouw at long-on, the run rate had sunk to just over six. Two balls later, middle-order hitter Abdul Samad, too, fell to Faheem as the game hurtled towards a conclusion.

Gladiators managed the game expertly, refusing to let power-hitters from the lower order build up any head of steam that would allow Zalmi to sniff their way back into the game. Mitchell Owen was good value for a cameo, but Khurram Shahzad took away the on-side as an option, and the Australian carved him straight to deep cover-point. The following delivery, Joseph nicked off to Mendis, and Gladiators were into the tail.

Hussain Talat continued to fight a valiant hand despite the outcome of the game long having been settled, before his 34-ball 39 came to an end when Abrar Ahmed deceived him in flight. Fittingly, though, Faheem had the final say, polishing off the final wicket and picking up his first five-wicket haul in the PSL when Muqeem tamely scooped him to mid-on, sealing a win that had, in truth, been secure from the early stages of the chase.