KARACHI: Quetta Gladiators finally ended their HBL Pakistan Super League jinx in great style by clinching the fourth edition after cruising to an eight-wicket victory against Peshawar Zalmi at the overflowing National Stadium on Sunday.

Chasing a modest 139 for victory, the Gladiators were serene in the pursuit. Ahmed Shehzad and Rilee Rossouw, who had the distinction of scoring the winning single with a push towards long-off, got the job done after Mohammad Hasnain further enhanced his meteoric rise as the next fast-bowling sensation with triple strikes to derail Zalmi upfront.

The excitement associated with this format was generally missing, but the Gladiators grabbed the opportunity with both hands for their first PSL title. When Sarfraz Ahmed received the trophy from President Arif Alvi, there were tears of joy on the face of Sir Vivian Richards, the former West Indies batting legend who is the Quetta mentor since the first edition.

The festive mood generated by the 33,000-plus holiday turnout inspired the Gladiators far more than Zalmi as the luckless Darren Sammy was denied the opportunity to lift the shimmering Swarovski trophy in Karachi for the second year running. The trophy is made of more than 50,000 crystals.

Sammy, a two-time World Tweny20 winner as West Indies captain in 2012 and 2016, was the losing skipper in last year’s final when Islamabad United pulled off a three-wicket win.

On Sunday the Quetta Gladiators never gave Peshawar Zalmi any room as they grabbed a fourth successive victory over them in this edition.

Sarfraz Ahmed, who is Pakistan captain in all three formats, was a relieved man after failing to lead the Gladiators to the title in the first two editions against United and Zalmi respectively.

“This is not just one of the best moments of my cricketing career but also the entire Gladiator family is overjoyed at finally breaking the jinx,” a jubilant Sarfraz said. “We may have missed the chance [in those earlier finals] for one reason or the other, but tonight we outplayed them in all departments.”

Zalmi found themselves struggling soon after Sarfraz put them in to bat. The flair was surprisingly missing from their batting as their big guns got silenced one by one. Upfront Imam-ul-Haq (3) and Kamran Akmal (21), among the top run-getters in PSL 4, departed inside the power play overs.

The Gladiators controlled the game from then onwards. Umar Amin was the top-scorer for Zalmi with a 33-ball 38. The best partnership was stitched together by Umar and Sohaib Maqsood (20) for the third wicket. But it was only worth 31 runs.

The Zalmi batsmen were rattled by the pace of Hasnain, who ripped their innings apart with the scalps of Imam, Umar and crucially, the explosive Kieron Pollard (7 in 16 balls) in the space of 16 deliveries.

Hasnain, who was adjudged man-of-the-match, was not alone in putting the Gladiators on top. Dwayne Bravo utilised his vast T20 experience to keep things tight in taking 2-24.

At the halfway stage there was no doubt who will be the winners. The Zalmi were simply powerless in the field as well. The action got a bit tense when Shane Watson (7) was given a sendoff by Imam-ul-Haq after the two got involved in an acerbic exchange after the Australian veteran was run out.

But there were no further histrionics during the night. Shehzad shepherded the chase with luck on his side. The discarded Pakistan right-hander scored an unbeaten 58 from 51 deliveries with the help of six fours and one six.

Rossouw, the former South African left-hander, remained unbeaten on a 32-ball 39 (five boundaries) and Ahsan Ali made an invaluable contribution with a breezy 18-ball 25.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2019