Lahore: Lahore Qalandars defeated Quetta Gladiators by 17 runs in the 18th match of Pakistan Super League (PSL) season 8 at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Thursday.
The Qalandars continue to rule the points table with the top position, while the Gladiators are at the bottom.
Shaheen Shah Afridi-led Qalandars restricted Sarfraz Ahmed-led Gladiators to 131-7 in 20 overs, as they struggled to chase down their 149-run target.
Yasir Khan and Will Sameed added 53 runs for the first wicket before the former was dismissed for 14 off 15 balls on the final delivery of Haris Rauf’s powerplay.
Rashid Khan, meanwhile, sent Sameed back into the hit after trapping the batsman in front of the stumps. The right-handed batsman scored 32 runs in 25 balls.
Muhammad Hafeez (2) was run out after hitting the stumps with a straight hit from Fakhar Zaman.
In his last over, Rashid also took the important wicket of Iftikhar Ahmed to increase the pressure on Quetta. The Afghanistan leg-spinner finished with impressive figures of 2-14 in four overs.
Quetta’s hopes were dashed when Martin Guptill, 15 off 20 balls, was bowled by David Wiese straight off the cow corner.
With the required run rate climbing, Quetta failed to score boundaries in the latter part of the innings and kept losing wickets.
Sarfraz Ahmed remained unbeaten on 27 but it took 28 balls to get there.
Earlier, Sikandar Raza scored an unbeaten 71 runs off 34 balls, Lahore set Quetta a target of 149 runs. The Zimbabwean cricketer hit eight fours and three sixes in his explosive innings.
Batting first, the Lahore team was dismissed for 148 runs in 19.2 overs.
After slipping to 50-7 against Quetta Gladiators, Lahore were in danger of being bowled out for less than 100 runs. However, Rashid Khan and Sikandar Raza brought their team back into the contest with important contributions of fifties.
Rashid was caught in the deep after scoring 21 off 20 balls, but not before making 69 off 39 balls with Raza.
It should be noted that the Quetta bowlers gave their team the best start after reducing Lahore to 29-4 in the first power play.
Umeed Asif’s direct hit sent the in-form Fakhar Zaman (4) back to the hut. Asif also sent Mirza Tahir Baig (2) back to the pavilion.
Meanwhile, Sam Billings and Hussain Talat were dismissed by fast bowler Naveen Haq after scoring two and six runs respectively.
After the initial loss of wickets, Qalandars hoped that Abdullah Shafiq would save the team but the right-handed batsman was cleaned out by Nawaz after scoring 15 runs off 14 balls.
Lahore captain Shaheen promoted himself up the batting order and came to the crease at number six. However, the experiment did not pay off as Shaheen was run out after scoring 16 runs.
Nawaz took his second wicket after completing a simple catch and bowled David Wiese (2) to send him packing.
Fast bowler Muhammad Hasnain was rested against Lahore due to ankle pain.
Meanwhile Naveen ul Haq, Umeed Asif and emerging batsman Yasir Khan have made their debuts.
Teams:
Quetta Gladiators: Yasir Khan, Martin Guptill, Will Smead, Mohammad Hafeez, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Odin Smith, Umeed Asif, Naseem Shah, Naveen ul Haq.
Lahore Qalandars: Fakhar Zaman, Mirza Tahir Baig, Sam Billings (wicket), Abdullah Shafiq, Hussain Talat, Sikandar Raza, Rashid Khan, David Wise, Shaheen Afridi (captain), Haris Rauf, Zaman Khan.
