THE best innings of Liam Dawson’s T20 career kept alive Peshawar Zalmi’s hopes of retaining their Pakistan Super League title last night – and ensured bragging rights against Hampshire teammate Rilee Rossouw.

Dawson kept Peshawar in the game with a 35-ball 62, including six fours and four sixes, to ensure the champions recovered from 86-5 in the 13th over to make 157 - before securing a dramatic one-run win against the Quetta Gladiators in the PSL’s second qualifying final in Lahore.

The Hampshire all-rounder conceded the most expensive spell of his T20 career for the second successive match (last night’s 4-0-52-0 followed his 4-0-47-0 against the Lahore Qalanders) as the Gladiators made 156-9.

But after conceding 22 from the first five balls of the final over, which began with Quetta needing 25 to win, Dawson held his nerve to take off the bails when Anwar Ali, having hit three sixes off the slow left-armer’s previous four balls, returned for a second.

Dawson will prefer to remember last night’s thriller for the second, and fastest, half-century, of his T20 career.

Peshawar were 54-3 when he entered the fray midway through the eighth over, following the loss of Kamran Akmal (0), Andre Fletcher (one) and Mohammad Hafeez (25).

When Tamim Iqbal (27) was out in the following over, Peshawar were 58-4. But Dawson glued the Peshawar innings together, scoring 48 of his runs in boundaries, before he and former Hampshire teammate Darren Sammy were dismissed in the 18th by the left-arm seam of Rahat Ali (4-16).

Dawson was finally undone by a slower ball that he bottom edged through to the wicketkeeper.

But his 62 was second only to his unbeaten 76 against Glamorgan in July 2016 in terms of his highest T20 score.

This came at a far more impressive strike rate, with only 29 balls needed to reach fifty (13 less than against Glamorgan at The Ageas Bowl 20 months ago) and in much more trying circumstances.

Dawson hit two of his sixes against three balls from Sri Lanka seamer Thisara Perera in taking 21 off the 17th over.

His first maximum came against a long-hop free hit from Bangladesh off-spinner Mahmudallah as Peshawar reached 76-4 at halfway. Teenage Pakistani slow left-armer Hasan Khan was given the straight-six treatment before Dawson accelerated.

Peshawar will play the Karachi Kings tomorrow (Wednesday) for the right to face Islamabad United in Sunday’s final.