Peshawar Zalmi held their nerves and defeated defending champions Karachi Kings in the first Eliminator of the Pakistan Super League’s sixth edition at UAE’s Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium.

Peshawar defeated Karachi by five wickets in their 176-run chase — knocking the Imad Wasim-led side out of the tournament.

Zalmi will now meet Islamabad United in Eliminator 2 on June 22. The winner of the match will qualify for the final, where they will face off against Multan Sultans.

For Zalmi, openers Hazratullah Zazai and Kamran Akmal had taken them to 49 before Noor Ahmed drew first blood.

Ahmed removed Kamran Akmal for 13 in the fifth over of Zalmi’s innings.

Zazai who was hitting the Kings’ bowlers all over the ground completed his half-century from 23 balls in the seventh over.

The Afghan was hitting so cleanly that Kings star bowler and fellow countryman Ahmed was also looking clueless against him.

Peshawar lost their second wicket from the last ball of the 10th over. It was Thisara Perera that removed Imam-ul-Haq to put Zalmi two down.

In the 12th over, Perera removed the dangerous Zazai for 77 and put Zalmi three down.

The removal had slowed down the runs for Peshawar and they needed 44 runs from the last 30 balls.

And in the 18th over, Peshawar lost Khalid Usman who was bowled by Mohammad Ilyas. At that point, Zalmi needed 21 runs in 16 balls.

In the 19th over, Mohammad Amir removed Shoaib Malik to give some hope to his Karachi side. When Malik was dismissed Zalmi required 13 runs from 10 balls.

After the end of Amir’s over. Zalmi needed seven runs in the last six balls to secure a win.

However, West Indian Sherane Rutherford guided his team to the finishing line with one ball to spare.

Zalmi ended the innings at  176/5.

Karachi Kings’ innings

In the first innings, Kings were restricted to 175 by the Zalmi bowlers.

It was Zalmi’s Mohammad Irfan that drew first blood for Peshawar. The right-hander trapped Sharjeel on the second last ball of the sixth over to take the Kings first wicket.

In the next over, Umaid Asif removed Martin Guptill to put Karachi two down.

In the 12th over, Irfan removed the dangerous Danish Aziz to put Karachi three down.

Babar Azam, who was playing a crucial role for his team, completed his half-century in the 14th over. He was dismissed by Wahab Riaz in the 15th over after he tried to hit a six off the Zalmi captain’s bowling.

Thisara Parera made an important 37 for his side before being dismissed by Umaid Asif.

Wahab Riaz then dismissed Chadwick Walton to put the defending champions six down.

And in the last over, Mohammad Imran removed Imad Wasim from the first ball of the 20th over.

Imran gave just 10 runs in the last over to help making sure that the Kings end their innings at 175/7.

Before the start of the match, Peshawar ZaGeolmi won the toss opted to bowl first.

Playing XI

Peshawar Zalmi: Kamran Akmal (wk), Hazratullah Zazai, Imam-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Khalid Usman, Wahab Riaz (c), Umaid Asif, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Imran

Karachi Kings: Babar Azam, Sharjeel Khan, Martin Guptill, Chadwick Walton (wk), Thisara Perera, Imad Wasim (c), Danish Aziz, Noor Ahmed, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Ilyas, Arshad Iqbal