Peshawar Zalmi 255 for 3 (Babar 100*, Mendis 83, Abrar 1-44) beat Quetta Gladiators 137 all out (Jacobs 34, Raza 3-9, Basit 3-26) by 118 runs

Of all the games that might have wanted a crowd at the PSL, this one needed it the most. They would have got to see what they appear to desire more than anything else: success and vindication for Babar Azam, who rolled back the years with a superb 52-ball unbeaten hundred, achieved off the very last ball of the Peshawar Zalmi innings. His 12th T20 hundred, more than every man bar Chris Gayle, powered an already-qualified Zalmi to a tournament high 255, rendering the Quetta Gladiators innings an irrelevance. Zalmi's bowlers ran through them like knife through butter, skittling the Gladiators out for 137 and, significantly, giving a side tied on points with three other teams a heavy net run-rate bruising.

Gladiators won the toss and opted to chase, but the first over didn't end before they found themselves regretting that decision. Mohammad Haris pummelled a hapless Jahandad Khan as 22 came off it, and Haris's departure after his cameo brought the two highest scorers of the tournament. In a partnership as furious in its intensity as it was gigantic in size, Kusal Mendis and Babar flayed the Gladiators attack all over Karachi. There was no bowler able to provide any respite as they amassed 135 in 75 balls, setting up the finish perfectly for their explosive middle over.

While Mendis' 83 off 44 is now par for his brilliant tournament, Babar picked up the pace towards the end with almost unprecedented ferocity. When he got to his half-century, he hadn't faced a single dot ball, but even so, his first 40 deliveries produced a relatively prosaic 63. However, he cranked into fifth gear out of nowhere, smashing 37 in his final 12 deliveries in an unselfish partnership with Aaron Hardie that risked him missing out on a hundred in favour of racking up the highest possible score. That he got the two he needed off the final ball was the very least he deserved.

The chase always felt something of a formality, and Shamyl Hussain and Saud Shakeel never looked like changing that. Mohammad Basit started the slide with successive dismissals of Shakeel and Rilee Rossouw, the latter's horror tournament extending as he departed for a golden duck.

Hasan Nawaz was beaten for pace by the rapid-fire Ali Raza and Shamyl followed in the next over to reduce the Gladiators to 44 for four. The 18-year old Raza was the story of the second innings, regularly hitting speeds in excess of 147 as the Gladiators wilted under the fire. His 3-9 did not flatter him, and though the Gladiators smashed their way to three figures through a little partnership between Dinesh Chandimal and Bevon Jacobs, the game was drawing to its inevitable conclusion. It ended, fittingly, with a splendid catch to give Raza his third wicket, and virtually guarantee Zalmi a top two finish.