ISLAMABAD: Peshawar Zalmi defeated Multan Sultans by four runs in their Pakistan Super League (PSL) 9th edition match at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.
Peshawar won the toss and decided to bat first in the game. Skipper Babar Azam played a 64-run knock, while Saim Ayub scored 46 from 22 deliveries.
Haseebullah Khan added another 31 runs to take Peshawar to 204/5. In return, Iftikhar Ahmed put up a brilliant show by scoring 60 not out, but Multan finished only five runs short of win.
“Ifti Mania kept Multan Sultans in the game till the very end, but Peshawar Zalmi reign supreme tonight,” PSL commented on X after the match.
Usama Mir took three wickets for 32 runs, while Chris Jordan dismissed two 33 runs.
In their 205-run chase, things could have been better for Multan, had they scored at a quicker rate early on.
Apart from Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan and Chris Jordan were the only batsmen with significant scores of 32 and 30 not out, respectively.
Aamir Jamal took two for 36, while Mehran Mumtaz and Naveen-ul-Haq dismissed one each.
Table-toppers Multan have won six out of their eight games, while Peshawar have won four of their eight matches played this season.
Peshawar beat Multan by four runs in PSL thriller
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Peshawar beat Multan by four runs in PSL thriller
- Skipper Babar Azam played a 64-run knock, while Saim Ayub scored 46
- Chasing a 204-run target, Multan reached 200 runs from their 20 overs
Security forces kill 11 militants in separate operations in Pakistan’s northwest
- Pakistan has struggled to contain a surge in militancy in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan
- Militant groups such as the Pakistani Taliban frequently target convoys of security forces, police and government officials
ISLAMABAD: Security forces gunned down 11 Pakistani Taliban militants in separate operations in the country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, the Pakistani military said on Saturday, amid a surge in militancy in the South Asian country.
The first intelligence-based operation was conducted in North Waziristan district, which borders Afghanistan, during which six militants were killed, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing.
Another joint intelligence-based operation by police and security forces was conducted in the Kurram district, which led to the killing of five other Pakistani Taliban militants in a fire exchange.
“Weapons and ammunition were also recovered from killed Indian-sponsored khwarij (militants), who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities,” the ISPR said in a statement.
“Sanitization operations are being conducted to eliminate any other Indian-sponsored kharja (militant) found in the area.”
There was no immediate comment by New Delhi to the Pakistani military statement.
Pakistan has struggled to contain a surge in militancy in KP in recent years. Militant groups such as the Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have frequently targeted convoys of security forces, police stations and check-posts besides kidnapping government officials in the region.
Last year, the South Asian country saw 73 percent increase in combat-related deaths, with both security forces and militants suffering casualties in large numbers.
As per statistics released by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), combat-related deaths in 2025 rose 73 percent to 3,387, compared with 1,950 in 2024. These deaths included 2,115 militants, 664 security forces personnel, 580 civilians and 28 members of pro-government peace committees (combatants), the think tank said in a press release.
Islamabad has frequently accused Afghanistan of allowing its soil and India of backing militant groups, including the TTP, for attacks against Pakistan. Kabul and New Delhi have consistently denied this.
