DUBAI: Quetta Gladiators put up a dazzling show of skills to outclass Lahore Qalandars by nine wickets in one of the most one-sided fixtures in the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium here on Saturday night.
The end result — Quetta’s biggest victory in PSL history — was quite sensational to say the least, after Lahore had launched their innings like a bullet train running at furious pace.
Brendon McCullum, the captain, was at the helm of a blistering onslaught alongside Sunil Narine and the two put Quetta captain Sarfraz Ahmed under heavy pressure after the Pakistan skipper decided to field first after winning the toss.
At one point it seemed Lahore would easily sail past 200 runs when McCullum and Narine made 46 in just 20 balls. But the situation changed dramatically once they were separated by Rahat Ali, who induced Narine to loft one high into the night sky and the catch was superbly anticipated and eventually held by Anwar Ali.
Until that moment Narine had clobbered 28 before being dismissed on just the 10th delivery the West Indian left-hander had faced after having crashed four boundaries and two sixes.
The innings then witnessed some sluggish scoring, instigated by the brilliance of Mohammad Nawaz. The left-arm spinning all-rounder slowed down scoring to such an extent that he managed to deliver no less than 20 dot balls, which is a huge luxury when it comes to T20 stuff.
In the process, Nawaz scalped McCullum for an 18-ball 30, featuring three fours and a brace of sixes after Fakhar Zaman (1) was taken by Jofra Archer off his own bowling.
Lahore barely recovered after those double strikes and only managed to collect 119-9, a tally that included Sohail Akhtar’s 20.
Nawaz, who was later adjudged man-of-the-match, returned astounding figures of 4-1-4-2.
Quetta knocked off Lahore’s modest score in a canter as Shane Watson bludgeoned 50 runs in boundaries, with five sixes among them, before the Australian was dismissed for a 42-ball 66 after having added 92 with Asad Shafiq.
Asad remained unbeaten with 38. Umar Amin had the honour of hitting the winning runs.
Scores in brief: LAHORE QALANDARS 119-9 in 20 overs (B.B. McCullum 30, S.P. Narine 28, Sohail Akhtar 20 not out; J.C. Archer 3-23, Mohammad Nawaz 2-4); QUETTA GLADIATORS 120-1 in 14 overs (S.R. Watson 66, Asad Shafiq 38 not out, Umar Amin 13 not out).
Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2018
