Fakhar stars as Qalandars topple Gladiators

SHARJAH: Left-Handed opening batsman Fakhar Zaman’s blasting 94 off 50-ball helped Lahore Qalandars win against Quetta Gladiators in the 26th Twenty20 match of the Pakistan Super League third edition (PSL-3) here at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.

After being sent into bat by Quetta, Lahore’s Fakhar provided a solid start of 43 along with Anton Devcich (18) before losing three quick wickets within 30 runs as Agha Salman and captain Brandon McCullum fell cheaply, later Fakhar was joined by Gulraiz Sadaf and both added breezy 68 runs off 30 balls for the fourth wicket stand and guided team to set a second highest total of the tournament186 for 4, after 188-3 scored by Karachi Kings against Multan Sultans at Dubai on March 10.

Chasing to a huge target of 187 Galdiators have lost 5 wickets for 92 as the spinners strangled Quetta in the middle, while two blitzkriegs, one from Roy, one from Rossouw to manage a decent margin in the end as Rossouw blasted 42 off 22 with the help of five 6s, and Roy contributed 36 of 26 hitting three 6s and two 4s.

Fakhar Zaman, of course, set it all up for Qalandars to achieve third consecutive victory in PSL-3 to get pride back as they have already been disqualified for play-off competitions.

It is pertinent to note that Umer Akmal was not included in Lahore Qalandars team that won three matches in the PSL-3.