Lahore Qalandars are at the second spot on the table with five wins
LAHORE: Shaheen Shah Afridi-led Lahore Qalandars made a quick work of Quetta Gladiators in the 20th match of the Pakistan Super League at the Gaddafi Stadium here on Sunday night.
Qalandars first restricted Quetta at 141 for seven and then overhauled the target (143 for two), attaining a comprehensive eight-wicket win. In the 21st match of season 7, Islamabad United will face Karachi Kings on Monday night.
After their struggle to get among the runs, Quetta also did not give a free hand to Qalandars. Fakhar Zaman and Abdullah Shafique added 41 runs for the first wicket before the latter departed for 19 off 20 balls. Fakhar, however, kept the scoreboard ticking along with Kamran Ghulam for a second wicket partnership of 77 runs.
In Qalandars’ win, Fakhar produced fourth half century of the event in 37 balls and added another three runs to be caught at midwicket. His 53 was laced with six fours as he remains the highest scorer of the tournament. Mohammad Hafeez came in to support Kamran and the two shaved off the remaining deficit. Kamran remained unbeaten at 55 that came in 38 balls. He hit five boundaries with a six while Hafeez, who hit the winning six, was not out at nine. Quetta’s Noor Ahmed and Ghulam Mudassar shared one wicket each.
Qalandars, having a rousing support from the fans who enjoyed every bit of the moment, entertained them to the fullest. It was Shaheen’s opening spell that set the momentum for Qalandars and other than Iftikhar Ahmed, Quetta batters were clueless.
Qalandars carried on from their big win in the last match against table toppers Multan Sultans to give heavy shocks to Quetta one after the other. Qalandars captain Shaheen Shah Afridi dented Quetta with two wickets in the attack over. Shaheen struck with the wickets of Roy on the second ball of the innings and on the following ball that swung late, uprooting the wicket of James Vince.
On his return to the side, Roy changed the momentum of Quetta as they were in this game with back to back victories. And it was Roy who took the game away from Lahore with his blistering ton in the last encounter between these two. But on the day, Qalandars were a different unit. Their confidence was high up the sky as they came to this match with the big win over mighty Multan Sultans.
Two down for zero, Quetta were in dire straits and Qalandars did not ease up the pressure, rather maintained it giving blow after blow. That compression reduced Quetta to 3-20, 4-25 and after a brief lull 5-54. Sarfaraz Ahmed (12), Ahsan Ali (8) and Umar Akmal (25) were back in the pavilion by the 10th over.
Iftikhar Ahmed and Hassan Khan came with some reprieve adding 52 runs for the sixth wicket. When Iftikhar was at 39, Hassan’s lofted hit to David Wiese saw Mohammad Hafeez take a superb diving catch at extra cover. Now Quetta was at 106 for six in 16 overs.
Iftikhar, however, managed his 52 in 39 balls, hitting three sixes and two fours, went to Haris Rauf. Afterwards, Quetta did not lose any wicket and scored 48 runs in the last five overs.
Lahore Qalandars are at the second spot on the table with five wins out of 7 and Quetta Gladiators at number four with 3 wins out of 7. The unchanged Lahore Qalandars won the toss and decided to bowl.
Quetta Gladiators made couple of changes as Sohail Tanvir and Hassan Khan come in place of Shahid Afridi and James Faulkner.