Image Credit- PSL
In the PSL 2024, Quetta Gladiators defeated the
tenacious defending champions Lahore Qalandars by a margin of five wickets to
secure their second victory from two games.
Not acclaimed Khawaja Nafay displayed a great deal of confidence in his defence
against Qalandars’ star-studded speed attack. Nafay smashed three sixes and
four boundaries, defying players like Haris Rauf and Shaheen Shah Afridi. In
order to end unbeaten on 60 off 31 balls, he flicked Zaman Khan to the fine leg
boundary for the winning runs.
After Qalandars had made 187 for 7, Gladiators easily reached 188 for 5 with
five balls remaining. Following the loss of three catches, Qalandars suffered a
second straight home defeat.
Opening batsman Sahibzada Farhan of Qalandars, dropped
on 44, struck 62 off 43 balls, but Jahandad Khan, elevated to No. 5, produced a
light-hearted unbeaten 45 off 17 balls that carried them forward.
Jahandad smashed three boundaries and four sixes in the final overs to seize
the initiative. When he hit three sixes off Abrar Ahmed in the leg-spinner’s
final over, which ended at 23, he escalated the game. Despite the assault,
Gladiators opening bowler Akeal Hosein only gave up 17 runs in his four overs
while taking two wickets.
Thanks to Jason Roy (24 runs) and Saud Shakeel (40),
Gladiators got off to a fast start in their pursuit. Following their century
partnership against Zalmi, they collaborated for 69 runs before Roy was dropped
twice. It was another thrilling opening stand.
Following their dominance of the powerplay, both batters fell in consecutive
overs. Shakeel was clean bowled by Zaman with a yorker, while Roy wildly swiped
at a short ball struck by spinner Raza that struck the middle stump.
In the first ball he faced from Rauf, former Gladiators captain Sarfaraz Ahmed
was dropped by Qalandars’ part-time wicketkeeper Farhan, committing another
error in the field.