Sports Desk
QUETTA: Quetta Gladiators Thursday defeated Islamabad United by three wickets in the eighth match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) season nine.
While chasing the target of 145, Gladiators had to toil hard to reach the finish line. On the back of skip-per Rilee Rossouw’s 34* , they chased down the total in the 19th over. With this win, Gladiators registered their third win and are one of the only two teams to have a trio of victories with Multan Sultans.
At the start of the chase, Jason Roy demonstrated an impressive performance, scoring 37 runs off 18 balls at a remarkable strike rate of 205.55.
Roy’s partner Saud Shakeel was dismissed earlier today in the second over to Naseem Shah. Mean-while, Khawaja Nafay contributed 9 runs off 9 balls before being dismissed by Rumman Raees. The team faced early setbacks, but Rilee Rossouw, serving as the captain, displayed resilience, finish-ing the innings not out with a commendable score of 34 runs off 38 balls, maintaining a steady strike rate of 89.47. The team experienced further setbacks with Sarfaraz Ahmed getting lbw by Shadab Khan after con-tributing only 1 run off 6 balls. Sherfane Rutherford played a significant role, scoring 29 runs off 23 balls, but he eventually succumbed to Naseem Shah.
Akeal Hosein faced an unfortunate run-out, managing to contribute 8 runs off 2 balls at an impressive strike rate of 400.00. Mohammad Wasim and Mohammad Amir managed to add a few runs to the to-tal, with Amir finishing not out with 11 runs off 6 balls at an outstanding strike rate of 183.33. The team concluded their innings with a total score of 139/7 in 18.2 overs, maintaining a run rate of 7.58.
For United, Naseem and Shadab took two wickets each while Hunain and Rumman took one wicket.
Earlier, the formidable batting lineup of the United Kingdom managed to score 138/9 in the allocated 20 overs after being asked to bat first.
The two-time champions got off to a strong start in their innings, with Alex Hales hitting two consecu-tive sixes off Akeal Hosein in the third over. However, the spinner retaliated and dismissed him with the next delivery.
Hales also managed to score a boundary in his brief innings, accumulating a nine-ball 21.
After the initial setback, Salman Ali Agha joined forces with Colin Munro, stabilizing the innings with a 40-run partnership.
The pair seemed to have settled in before Abrar Ahmed removed Munro in the eighth over, with the team’s score at 69.
Munro struggled to a scrappy 20 off 22 deliveries, including one boundary and a six.
His dismissal triggered a collapse in the middle order, as the United slipped to 87/5 in 11.3 overs, with set batsman Agha also departing.
Agha emerged as the top-scorer for the United with a 23-ball 33, featuring five boundaries.
With the United facing significant trouble, Imad Wasim and Jordan Cox cautiously built a partnership for the sixth wicket but found it challenging against the formidable Gladiators’ bowling attack.
They added only 18 runs to the total before Abrar dismissed Imad in the 16th over, who managed to score nine off 15 deliveries. Cox, on the other hand, fell in the 18th over after scoring 20 off 14 deliver-ies.
Abrar and Mohammad Wasim Jr claimed three wickets each for the Gladiators, while Hosein secured two.
