Babar Azam-led Zalmi become the first team to qualify for PSL 11 playoffs

The unbeaten Peshawar Zalmi are through to the playoffs of the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL) edition. 

Qualified with three games to go

With 13 points in just seven games, Zalmi's making it to the next stage was hardly out of question, though a mathematical possibility remained.

That ended when Quetta Gladiators defeated Lahore Qalandars to earn six points from seven games and move to the fourth spot. That means the team in fourth place can no longer match Zalmi’s thirteen-point tally, making them the first team to reach the playoffs.

Zalmi have made it past the group stages in each PSL season except one, in PSL 2025, the most by any team alongside Islamabad United. The side have had an incredible season this year, as they have put in a combined team effort to avoid defeats.

Zalmi’s top-notch form

Captain Babar Azam, along with Kusal Mendis and Mohammad Haris, have kept things tight at the top. Kusal (330 runs at an average of 55, strike rate 165.82) and Babar (301 runs at an average of 75.25, strike rate 132.59) are currently the league’s highest run-scorers.

A similar story runs through their bowling lineup. While their overseas picks Nahid Rana and Shoriful Islam, both of whom were brilliant for Zalmi, left for national duty, bowlers like Sufiyan Muqeem and Iftikhar Ahmed have steered the side home in several games.

Muqeem became the first bowler in the PSL to take at least three wickets in five matches on the bounce.

Peshawar Zalmi will play Quetta Gladiators on April 19 at National Bank Stadium, Karachi.

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