Babar Azam hit his eighth T20 century today (March 8), his first in the Pakistan Super League, but Jason Roy was Player of the Match as Quetta Gladiators chased down 241 in a record-breaking match.

In his first season for Peshawar Zalmi, Babar finally scored a maiden PSL hundred. He reached three figures off 60 balls and finished on 115, with 15 fours and three sixes. It was the highest-ever individual score for Peshawar Zalmi and the sixth-highest ever in the PSL (at the time). Incredibly, it was not the highest score in the 2023 edition of the tournament by that point – Martin Guptill (in the field for Babar’s innings) hit a 67-ball 117 for Quetta Gladiators earlier in the competition.

Babar shared a 162-run stand with fellow opener Saim Ayub, the second highest-ever partnership in the PSL, and the highest for Peshawar Zalmi. Ayub scored 74 off 34 balls before he was dismissed by Mohammad Nawaz. The highest partnership on that list also involved Babar – he put on 176 with Sharjeel Khan in 2021 for Karachi Kings.

The innings put Babar level with Michael Klinger, David Warner and Aaron Finch on eight T20 hundreds. Only Chris Gayle has more, quite some way ahead on 22.

By the time Babar was dismissed by Aimal Khan in the final over of the innings, Peshawar had already scored well over 200 runs. They finished on 240-2, Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Rovman Powell combining to hit three boundaries off the last four balls of the innings. It was the fourth-highest team score ever in the PSL, and the highest ever for Peshawar Zalmi. Again, however, it was only the second-highest this season, Quetta Gladiators having scored 241-3 against Peshawar Zalmi earlier on in the tournament.

With little hope given to Quetta’s chances of chasing down the total, Jason Roy smashed 145 off 63 balls to see them record the second-highest successful chase in a domestic men’s T20 match. St, Kitts and Nevis Patriots chased down 242 in 2019, just pipping Quetta to the outright record. Finishing on 243-2, it was also the fourth highest successful chase in all T20s.

Roy’s innings was the highest-ever individual score in the PSL and Roy’s sixth T20 hundred. It was also the third-highest men’s T20 score by an English player, with Adam Lyth and Luke Wright both above him on the list. Roy also took bronze position for the highest score in a T20 chase, behind Wright and Gayle. He reached his half-century off 22-balls and took another 22 to score his second 50.

He finished the chase with a six over mid-off, seeing Quetta home with ten balls to spare. The previous highest successful chase in the PSL was 207, where Roy also scored a century.