SHARJAH: Quetta Gla­diators, powered by Kevin Pietersen’s belligerence, launched the second leg of the HBL Pakistan Super League at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium with a convincing six-wicket victory over Islamabad United on Wednesday night.

Pietersen, popularly known in cricketing circles as ‘KP’, was declared man of the match. He bullied the Islamabad bowling to blast 48 from 34 balls with the aid of three huge sixes and four fours.

Quetta made short work of a modest 135-run chase, eventually romping home with 17 balls to spare. In the process they jumped above Multan Sultans into second place in the standings, behind early pacesetters Karachi Kings.

Mohammad Nawaz followed up on another decent bowling spell (0-20 in four overs) by helping Pietersen put on 70 for the fourth wicket before remaining unbeaten on a 31-ball 25 (two sixes).

Islamabad’s miserable night was compounded by a serious injury to their vice captain Rumman Raees, who apparently hurt his knee after taking a tumble in the field. He was helped off the ground in a pretty bad shape. Islamabad, who limped to 134-7 in the end, then went into a sleep mode, although the fit-again Misbah-ul-Haq marked his first appearance in this PSL with a 25-ball 22 while Fahim Ashraf thrashed two sixes and a four in scoring 21 off 13 balls.

Despite being harshly treated at the start of his spell, Australian paceman Hastings finished off well in taking 1-36 , but the pick of the bowling was Rahat Ali, who took 1-18 and delivered 14 dot balls to keep Islamabad under check.

Scores in brief:

ISLAMABAD UNITED 134-7 in 20 overs (L. Ronchi 43, Misbah-ul-Haq 22, Fahim Ashraf 21); QUETTA GLADIATORS 135-4 in 17.1 overs (K.P. Pietersen 48, Mohammad Nawaz 25 not out, Asad Shafiq 22; S.T. Finn 3-35).

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2018