Sharjah March 1: Limping and batting virtually on one leg Peshawar Zalmi captain Daren Sammy pulled off a sensational win for his side as Quetta Gladiators narrowly lost a low scoring Sharjah thriller in front of a vociferous crowd at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

Set a target of 142, Zalmi had stuttered in their chase and were staring at an inexplicable defeat with 16 needed off the last seven balls.

Sammy who was severely limited in his movement following an injury sustained while bowling, smashed a straight six as Rahat Ali dished out a length ball in Sammy’s hitting arc.

Sammy took the strike again on the second ball off a dramatic final over bowled by Anwar Ali, the short ball by the right-armer was deposited over the square-leg region for a six, the equation was settled a ball later as Sammy drove Anwar straight down the ground sparking wild celebrations in the jubilant Zalmi camp and thousands of fans clad in the Peshawar yellow.

Sammy was later named Man-of-the-Match for his sterling match winning effort.

For Zalmi Tamim Iqbal chipped in with a valuable 36 run innings that laid the foundations for the chase, Hafeez scored 29 while Shane Watson and Mohammad Nawaz took a wicket apeice.

Earlier, Gladiators struggled to cope with the probing bowling performance by Zalmi bowlers as they were restricted to a 141 run score.

Gladiators got off to a stuttering start at Asad Shafiq and Umar Amin were dismissed after unimpressive returns at the crease.

Shane Watson turned up the heat on left-arm spinner Mohammad Asghar who was taken for some big boundaries by the Gladiators opener.

Khalid Usman made the breakthrough when he sent Watson back to the dugout after a stroke filled 47 run innings that included five sixes and three on three consecutive deliveries bowled by Asghar.

Gladiators failed to make the most of the platform provided by Watson losing last night’s Man-of-the-Match Kevin Pietersen cheaply.

Rilee Rossouw was the only one to come to grips with the sluggish pitch after Watson’s departure scoring 37 off only 25 balls, the left-hander hit two sixes and as many fours in his innings.

Captain Sarfraz scored 17 runs but a much needed late order flourish never came limiting the Gladiators score to 141 for eight.

Sammy, Wahab Riaz and Umaid Asif took two wickets apiece for Zalmi.