Watch: Will Smeed produced a sparkling innings when batting for the Quetta Gladiators against the Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League. The youngster smashed the ball to all parts and scored 97 off 62 balls.

Unfortunately, he missed out on a well-deserved ton as he was caught on the deep square leg fence off the final ball of the Gladiators’ batting innings. The final over was being bowled by Sameen Gul and the bowler did just enough to make Smeed mistime his attempted heave. He was well caught by another Englishman, Worcestershire’s Pat Brown, who clung on and just managed to keep himself within the field of play, tiptoeing along the boundary rope to leave Smeed disappointed.

The right-handed batter struck 11 boundaries and cleared the fence four times. Smeed was particularly severe on Sameen Gul and Sohail Khan. His knock powered the Gladiators to 190-4 from their stipulated 20 overs.

However, his essay wasn’t enough to secure victory as Peshawar Zalmi rode on Hussain Talat and Shoaib Malik’s heroics to inch past the finish line. That, though, didn’t deny Smeed the Player of the Match award that his performance richly warranted.

Smeed has been capturing the imagination in franchise cricket over the past few months. He was magnificent during his stint with the Birmingham Phoenix in The Hundred. And, it seems that he has carried that form over to the PSL too, in his first overseas engagement

Watch Smeed’s dismissal here:

Smeed was so close to a T20 ton, but @PeshawarZalmi had other ideas. Well played, lad 👏🏼 #HBLPSL7 l #LevelHai l #QGvPZ pic.twitter.com/89qGMUqvSU

— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) January 28, 2022