Islamabad United 175 for 4 (Smith 73, Haddin 61*) beat Quetta Gladiators 174 for 7 (Shehzad 64, Sangakkara 55, Russell 3-36)
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Dwayne Smith hit seven fours and four sixes during his 51-ball 73 © Chris Whiteoak
After a spectacular display of fireworks lit up the start of the final of the inaugural Pakistan Super League, in Dubai, Dwayne Smith produced the cricketing equivalent of it, firing Islamabad United to the title. He struck 73 off 51 balls, 52 of which came in boundaries. Smith’s effort had come after the bowlers, led by Andre Russell, pegged Quetta Gladiators back to 174, following equally fluent half-centuries from Ahmed Shehzad and Kumar Sangakkara. Islamabad captain Misbah-ul-Haq, who had termed the PSL final as a “World Cup” for his side at the toss, sealed the victory with a flick past midwicket and sparked off wild celebrations.
Smith, who had struggled to get the ball off the square during his 37-ball 19 in the third qualifier against Peshawar Zalmi, got into his shot-making stride right away, cracking fours off his second and third balls. He then followed it up with a brace of fours in the following over, off spinner Nathan McCullum, who was bowling for the first time in the tournament. Nathan managed to bowl PSL’s only centurion Sharjeel Khan, who had been added to Pakistan’s World T20 and Asia Cup squads, for only 13, but Smith continued his slap-happy strokeplay and raised a fifty off 32 balls.
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo