By Sports Desk
DUBAI: Quetta Gladiators have beaten Lahore Qalandars by 8 runs in 2nd match of Pakistan Super League (PSL) played here on Friday at Dubai International Stadium.
Chasing modest 137 runs total, Lahore Qalandars were bowled out to on 128 runs.
Lahore looked set for a comfortable win when Jason Roy and Brendon McCullum took the attack to Zulfiqar Babar right from the beginning of the run chase, each contributing quick fire scores in the twenties to set Qalandars up nicely. However, Zulfiqar got his revenge by ultimately accounting for both of them. Then, left-arm spinners Hasan Khan, who received Man of the match award, and last year’s sensation Mohammad Nawaz, strangled Lahore with a tight middle-stump line and waited for the batsmen to make mistakes, who duly obliged as the last nine wickets fell for 79 runs. Earlier, Quetta’s innings failed to take off at any point in the first thirteen overs, with all batsmen struggling for timing after Lahore’s bowlers continued to build up pressure. At 65 for 5 in 13 overs, Quetta looked like they might struggle to get past the PSL’s record lowest score of 111, but a late surge from Rilee Rossouw, who anchored the Gladiators’ innings with 60, got them to a defensible total. From there, it was their bowling – and Lahore’s suicidal approach – that did the rest.
