In vain, Babar Azam 68 as Shakeel, Roy script The Quetta Gladiators triumph

Peshawar Zalmi had a good start chasing 207, but once Saim Ayub was run out, things took a turn for the worse.
Peshawar Zalmi 190 for 6 (Babar 68, Ayub 42, Abrar 2-29) was defeated by Quetta Gladiators 206 for 5 (Roy 75, Shakeel 74, Irshad 3-38) by 16 runs.

With a 16-run victory over Peshawar Zalmi on Sunday, the reorganized Quetta Gladiators had a glorious start in the Pakistan Super League thanks to a fierce 157-run partnership between opening batsmen Jason Roy and Saud Shakeel.

Roy led Quetta to 206 for 5 with a brisk 75 off 48 balls, and left-hander Shakeel, who had to wait 33 games for his PSL debut, hit an equally impressive 74 off 47 deliveries.
Peshawar had a quick start to the chase with 90 runs off 51 balls thanks to Babar Azam (68) and Saim Ayub (42), but in the second half of the innings, their pursuit faltered and they were eventually restricted to 190-6.
One of the biggest adjustments Quetta has made this season was the appointment of South Africa's Rilee Rossouw as captain. When Quetta missed the playoffs for four straight seasons, they fired longtime captain Sarfaraz Ahmed.

Together with selecting Mohammad Amir in the first round of the draft for the first time after the left-arm fast bowler spent the previous eight seasons with the Karachi Kings, Quetta has also hired Australian coaches Shane Watson as head coach and Shaun Tait as bowling coach.
After brilliantly bowling upfront, Amir (1-29) was suitably rewarded by taking Rovman Powell for a late wicket in his final over.
With Pakistan Under-19 player Mohammad Zeeshan failing to strike the appropriate lengths during the powerplay and fast bowler Aamer Jamal spraying the ball all around, Roy and Shakeel took advantage of Peshawar's careless speed bowling.

Peshawar lost a specialist spinner in the middle overs to limit Quetta's free-scoring openers, but Jamal was removed after scoring 29 runs in his two overs.
Ayub's off-spin was also a poor choice for Captain Babar, as Shakeel hit him for three consecutive sixes in an over and established a solid opening stand with Roy off 92 balls.
After Shakeel holed out to Babar, Englishman Luke Wood broke the towering opening stand. Peshawar responded momentarily at the finish through Salman Irshad (3-38). Quetta lost four wickets for 34 runs when Roy could not clear Irshad's low full ball and was brilliantly caught low at midwicket.

Peshawar was put out of the game by the unnecessary run-out of Ayub in the ninth over. To secure the victory for Quetta, legspinner Abrar Ahmed (2-29) secured the crucial wickets of Babar and Tom Kohler-Cadmore (18) in a single over.