PSL, Day 3 Roundup: Quetta Gladiators, Peshawar Zalmi sets the pace early on with second successive win
Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmi go their second successive wins in the PSL with comfortable victories over Karachi Kings and Lahore Qalandars respectively at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Saturday. Ahmed Shehzad was the hero for the Gladiators with a 46-ball 71 that helped his side to an 8-wicket victory while Zalmi had the match virtually under their bag early on as Qalandars lost three wickets, including that of the dangerous Chris Gayle, with just four runs on the board.
Batting might see Gladiators clinch 8-wicket victory over Kings
The first match of the day saw two teams that were heading into the contest with a victory in their previous outing. Sarfraz Ahmed won the toss for the Gladiators and opted to field first. Anwar Ali justified his captain’s call with the dismissal of Nauman Anwar in the very first over of the match while Lendl Simmons and James Vince struggled to propel the scoring and eventually perished for 11 nad 30 respectively.
Shakib al-Hasan too headed back to the pavilion without doing much damage before Ravi Bopara and skipper Shoaib Malik’s 69-run partnership off 46 deliveries helped Kings towards a decent total of 147 in their 20 overs. Bopara top-scored with 40 while Malik made 37 with Anwar Ali and Mohammad Nabi picking up two wickets each.
Boasting an explosive batting line-up, the Gladiators set off in their chase with Luke Wright and Ahmed Shehzad smashing the opposition bowlers all round the park. The duo was particularly harsh on the usually economical Shakib who eventually went for 43 runs in his four overs.
Shehzad smashed four sixes in his knock of 71 from 46 balls while English batsmen Wright and Kevin Pietersen had two shots over the fence, with the latter remaining unbeaten on 29 from 17 balls. Shehzad, who was dismissed just before his team chased down the target with 16 balls to go, was declared the Man-of-the-Match.
Brief scores: Quetta Gladiators 153/2 off 17.2 overs (Shehzad 71, Wright 47) beat Karachi Kings 147/7 off 20 overs (Ravi Bopara 40) by eight wickets
Chris Gayle disappoints yet again as Peshawar annihilate Lahore to register second successive win
Those who were hoping for some magic from the willow of Chris Gayle was disappointed big time as the West Indian was dismissed for a first-ball duck by Junaid Khan. To make matters worse for Lahore, Cameron Delport gifted his wicket with a schoolboy error as he failed to slide his bat in and found his bat in the air when the stumps were rattled with a direct hit from mid-on, just two balls later.
Mohammad Rizwan fell soon after before skipper Azhar Ali and the returning Umar Akmal managed to hold the innings together with a 41-run partnership. The dismissal of both batsmen 18 runs apart by Mohammad Asghar meant Dwayne Bravo had to play a consolidating innings without going for the big shots and in the end, he could only muster 32 runs from 31 balls.
Asghar bowled superbly conceding only 11 runs from his four overs while Shaun Tait, Wahab Riaz, and Junaid picked up one wicket each. Lahore eventually reached 117 in their 20 overs – a total which was never going to be enough against the formidable batting of Peshawar.
Tamim Iqbal and Mohammad Hafeez got straight into the thick of things with a quick fire start for Peshawar. Iqbal especially looked in threatening form and took the attack to the opposition while Hafeez held things at the other end. The duo added 95 runs for the opening wicket with Hafeez opening his shoulders, later on, to register three big blows over the fence before he out stumped for 43.
Iqbal carried on to register a half-century and remained along with Dawid Malan as Shahid Afridi’s men sealed a nine-wicket victory.
Brief scores: Lahore Qalandars 117/6 off 20 overs (Dwayne Bravo 32, Mohammad Asghar 2/11) lost to Peshawar Zalmi 118/1 off 16 overs (Iqbal 55*, Hafeez 43) by nine wickets