Sports Desk
Lahore: Lahore Qalandars dominated Quetta Gladiators on Sunday and handed them an eight-wicket defeat during match 20 of the Pakistan Super League’s (PSL) seventh edition at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on Sunday.
Shaheen Shah Afridi’s decision to bowl first bore fruit as the Qalandars dismissed the Gladiators for a small 141-run total, while they easily chased the target and scored 143 for the loss of two wickets in 17.4 overs.
Fakhar Zaman and Kamran Ghulam’s half-centuries, while Shaheen Shah Afridi’s two wickets in the opening overs helped the Gladiators secure their Sunday win.
Qalandars never looked in trouble while chasing the small total as their openers Fakhar and Abdullah Shafique provided them a 41-run stand.
Fakhar continued his brilliant form by scoring a good fifty in 42 balls with the help of six fours. While Kamran remained not-out in 55 runs inning off 39 balls.
Noor Ahmed and Ghulam Mudassar picked one wicket each, but Quetta bowlers had no plans to stop Qalandars from chasing the target.
While bowling first, Shaheen struck twice for Lahore in the opening over as he set the tone after dismissing dangerous Jason Roy on the second ball and James Vince on the next ball courtesy of a brilliant swinging delivery.
Gladiators’ skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed also departed for eight runs and half of the team’s batting line-up was sent back to the pavilion with the score of just 54 runs.
Although Iftikhar Ahmed played a good 52-run knock and forged small partnerships, he was also dismissed on the last ball of the 17th over by Haris Rauf.
Other batters contributed with small scores, with Umar Akmal scoring 25, Hassan Khan 17, and Noor Ahmed 13 to take Quetta to a total 141-run total.
In terms of bowling for Lahore, Shaheen took two wickets for 27 runs in four overs, David Wiese also picked two in an economical spell, Haris Rauf picked one and Rashid Khan was again exceptional with tight lines giving away just 13 runs and taking one scalp.
Lahore Qalandars skipper Shaheen Shah Afridi won the toss and elected to field first against Quetta Gladiators.
