A hat-trick from West Indies all-rounder Akeal Hosein was not enough to prevent the Quetta Gladiators from going down by 76 runs to Peshawar Zalmi in Pakistan Super League action at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Friday.

Captain Babar Azam continued his stellar form this season with a top score 53 to help Peshawar post 196-8 from their 20 overs after being put in to bat by the Gladiators.

Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Saim Ayub each provided good support for their skipper with 33 and 30, respectively, while Rovman Powell finished 28*.

Akeal Hosein was the star of the show with the ball for the Gladiators with 4-23 from his four overs including a hat trick with the wickets of Aamer Jamal (5), Mehran Mumtaz (0) and Luke Wood (0) in the 16^th over.

The Gladiators were then reduced to 120 all out off 17.5 overs.

It was a collective effort with the ball for the Zalmi as Saim Ayub, Luke Wood, Khurram Shahzad and Mehran Mumtaz all took a pair of wickets.

Peshawar have now officially booked their ninth consecutive trip to the PSL playoffs.

Full Scores: Peshawar Zalmi 196-8 off 20 overs (Babar Azam 53, Tom Kohler-Cadmore 33, Saim Ayub 30, Rovman Powell 28*, Akeal Hosein 4-23)

Quetta Gladiators 120 all out off 17.5 overs (Saud Shakeel 24, Khurram Shahzad 2-15, Saim Ayub 2-20, Luke Wood 2-21, Mehran Mumtaz 2

Sherfane Rutherford's blistering knock (58* off 31) and his unbroken match-winning partnership of 80 with Akeal Hosein (22* off 17) took Quetta Gladiators to a thrilling five-wicket win over Karachi Kings in a last-ball finish in Karachi on Thursday.

Chasing a slightly below-par target of 166, the visitors raced away to 57 off just 29 deliveries through their openers Jason Roy and Saud Shakeel.

Both batters made use of the powerplay, notably the Englishman who went hammer and tongs at the Karachi bowlers. However, the partnership was broken off the last ball of the powerplay when Shakeel fell to Hasan Ali. The breakthrough spurred a collapse for the Gladiators as they lost four more wickets for just 32 runs in the next 37 deliveries. Zahid Mahmood's wrist spin proved tricky to handle on a slightly two-paced surface at the National Stadium.

While the leggie picked the big wickets of Rilee Rossouw and Khawaja Nafay, Hasan Ali removed Sarfaraz Ahmed while Shoaib Malik took the big scalp of Roy. From a cozy 57/0, the Gladiators were staring down the barrel at 89/5 in the 14th over. Rutherford, though, showed no signs of panic and got good support from Hosein as the duo went about their work effortlessly. They struck sixes with frequency and then rotated strike to take the game deep. From 66 off 36, it became 45 off 24 and then 25 off 12. Hasan's penultimate over went for just 10 despite a six in it, leaving 15 to get off the final over.

Anwar Ali, playing his first game of the season, couldn't hold his nerve as Rutherford smashed him for sixes off the first two balls to virtually seal the deal. The pacer did drag the game deep to the final ball but couldn't prevent a Gladiators win. There was massive drama off the penultimate ball when Anwar missed an opportunity to run out Rutherford - the all-rounder went all the way to the stumps to whip the bails off when a gentle throw would have caught the West Indian short. It was to be Karachi's final chance of salvaging something from the game as Rutherford had the last laugh off the final ball.

Earlier on, though, Anwar's unbeaten 14-ball 25 is what gave the Kings some respectability to their finish with the bat. James Vince (37 off 25) and Tim Seifert (21 off 11) had gotten the hosts off to a flier after skipper Shan Masood's first-over dismissal, racking up 61 off the powerplay. However, once Gladiators' spin duo of Usman Tariq and Abrar Ahmed got into the act, things changed drastically as the Kings lost wickets at regular intervals. Mohammad Nawaz created some impetus in the middle overs but couldn't convert his starts.

Just when the Kings had gotten themselves to a position for the final assault, they lost wickets in a heap. From a potential total of 180-plus, even 160 looked doubtful before Anwar's flurry in the 20th over gave the Kings something to bowl at. It was a below-par total but they nearly still made a game of it.

Brief scores: Karachi Kings 165/8 in 20 overs (James Vince 37, Mohammad Nawaz 28, Abrar Ahmed 3-31, Usman Tariq 2-16) lost to Quetta Gladiators 169/5 in 20 overs (Sherfane Rutherford 58*, Jason Roy 52, Zahid Mahmood 2-17) by five wickets

Newly appointed West Indies One-Day International Captain Shai Hope led the Lahore Qalandars to a dominant 63-run win over the Quetta Gladiators in their Pakistan Super League at the Karachi National Stadium on Tuesday.

The Qalandars made 198-6 off their 20 overs after being put in to bat by the Gladiators.

Hope led the way with a 32-ball 47 including five fours and a six. Zimbabwean all-rounder Sikandar Raza provided good support with a rapid 16-ball 32 and Mirza Baig was also in a destructive mood with 31 off just 15 balls.

Afghan leg-spinner Qais Ahmad took 2-36 from his four overs. West Indian Odean Smith also took a pair of wickets in his four overs and went for 41 runs.

The Gladiators reply never really got off the ground with only Jason Roy providing some tense moments for the Qalandars with a brisk 48 off 30 balls including five sixes.

Pakistani speedster Shaheen Shah Afridi was chief destroyer for the Qalandars with 3-22 from his four overs while South African all-rounder David Wiese, who now represents Namibia in international cricket, took 3-23 from his four overs.

Sherfane Rutherford’s Peshawar Zalmi secured a five-wicket win over the Quetta Gladiators in their first game of the 2022 Pakistan Super League (PSL) in Karachi today.

Zalmi won the toss and elected to field first but were left to regret that decision when Quetta openers Ahsan Ali and Will Smeed put on a massive 155-run partnership for the first wicket before Ali was dismissed for 73 in the 16^th over.

Smeed, a 20-year-old Englishman, was eventually dismissed for 97, in the final over, to see the Gladiators finish with a formidable 190-4 off their 20 overs.

Smeed’s 97 came off 62 balls with 11 fours and four sixes.

Pakistani Usman Qadir was the best bowler for Zalmi with 2-20 off his four overs.

Openers Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Yasir Khan put on 43 for the first wicket before Khan was dismissed in the fourth over for 30 off 12 balls.

Kohler-Cadmore was next to go for 22 to leave the Zalmi 62-2.

Jamaica Tallawahs batsman Haider Ali also contributed 19 before the chase was spearheaded by Hussain Talat and captain Shoaib Malik with scores of 52 off 29 balls and 48 not out off 32 balls, respectively.

Rutherford also contributed 10 runs off nine balls to put them on the brink of victory, being dismissed in the final over with three runs to win.

Malik then hit the winning runs to close the innings on 191-5.

Mohammed Nawaz took 3-44 from four overs for the Gladiators.

The 2022 PSL started yesterday with the Multan Sultans beating the Karachi Kings by seven wickets.

Despite admitting that life inside consecutive bubbles has taken a toll on him mentally, Jamaican all-rounder Andre Russell has vowed to do all he can to lift the Quetta Gladiators once the Pakistan Super League T20 competition resumes on June 9.