Quetta Gladiators thrashed Karachi Kings by 23 runs in match 28 of the Pakistan Super League at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore today (Sunday).
Openers Joe Clarke and Babar Azam gave their team a flying start and shared an 87-run partnership. Skipper Babar Azam scored 36 runs off 34 deliveries with three fours and one six but medium-fast bowler Khurram Shahzad dismissed him.
Clarke smashed 50 off 34 balls and was bowled by Muhammad Irfan for 52.
Shahzad took his second wicket in the 13th over when he sent aggressive Sharjeel Khan back to the pavilion. Khan added 16 runs to the scoreboard off just seven deliveries with one four and two sixes. Qasim Akram contributed just nine runs in the team’s total.
Quetta Gladiators’ innings
Earlier, Quetta Gladiators set 167-run target for Karachi Kings in the match.
Earlier, Gladiators’ skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed won the toss and opted to bat first against Kings. Opener Will Smeed could not deliver in the match and lost his wicket after making just 10 runs off 11 deliveries. Kings pacer Usman Khan Shinwari drew first blood for his team.
After Smeed’s dismissal Jason Roy and James Vince shared over a 60-run partnership. James Vince added 29 runs to the scoreboard off 24 balls with three fours and one six before being dismissed. Umar Akmal went to the pavilion after making just two runs.
It was Iftikhar Ahmed and Roy’s partnership at the backend of the innings helped Quetta set a 167-run target for Kings.
Englishman Jason Roy remained the top scorer for Gladiators with 82 runs off 64 deliveries with 11 bounders. In its innings, Gladiators made 166 runs at the loss of four wickets.
While, Kings’ Imad Wasim, Mir Hamza, Usman Khan Shinwari and Lewis Gregory took one wicket each.
Gladiators currently have 6 points from nine games and another win will put them at the level of Islamabad United, who have 8 points from eight games, in the points table.
However, merely a win won’t be enough for the Gladiators as they’re too below on the Net Run Rate (NRR), which is -0.917 as compared to Islamabad, who bear an NNR of +0.101.
Moreover, the Quetta Gladiators not only need to beat Karachi Kings by a mammoth margin but also require Multan Sultans to trounce Islamabad United in today’s 2nd match.
Karachi, on the other hand, has nothing to lose in the tournament. They had lost 8 consecutive matches in the tournament before beating Lahore Qalandars in their last match, so they would want to avoid a 9th consecutive defeat today.
Playing XIs:
Quetta Gladiators: Jason Roy, Will Smeed, James Vince, Sarfaraz Ahmed (c), Iftikhar Ahmed, Umar Akmal, Hassan Khan, Muhammad Irfan, Naseem Shah, Muhammad Ashar Qureshi, Khurram Shahzad.
Karachi Kings: Sharjeel Khan, Babar Azam (c), Joe Clarke, Lewis Gregory, Tom Lammonby, Rohail Nazir,Qasim Akram, , Imad Wasim, Umaid Asif, Usman Shinwari, Mir Hamza
