Quetta Gladiators came out on top against Lahore Qalandars in Match 15 of the Pakistan Super League 2022 on Monday February 7. The Gladiators defeated Qalandars by 7 wickets despite chasing a daunting 205-run target successfully in the last match in the Karachi leg of the tournament.
Gladiators won the toss and opted to bowl first, a decision they might have regretted when Qalandars got going with the bat in the first half. Qalandars got off to another impressive start with their openers Fakhar Zaman and Abdullah Shafique taking on the bowling inside the powerplay.
They added 61 runs for the first wicket before Shafique’s departure for an individual score of 32. However, Fakhar continued his great run with the bat, scoring an important 70 off 45 deliveries to lay a foundation for Qalandars’ giant score.
The Qalandars suffered a few middle-order stutters, but then Harry Brook and David Wiese came to the party, adding 55 runs in their sixth-wicket stand. While Brook smashed a blistering 41 not out off 17 balls, Wiese hit the ball around for a cameo of 22* from nine deliveries.
But all the good work done by Fakhar, Shafique, Brook and Wiese was completely undone by a superlative T20 hundred by England and Gladiators’ opener Jason Roy, who produced an excellent knock of 116 off just 57 deliveries to make it a near no-contest in the second half.
Roy’s innings featured 11 fours and eight sixes, as he took the Qalandars’ bowling attack to the cleaners and almost singlehandedly won the game for his team. Yet, it would be unfair not to mention the noteworthy efforts with the bat by James Vince (49*) and Mohammad Nawaz (25*), who ensured there was no opening for Qalandars even after Roy’s departure at the score of 167.
On the day batters absolutely dominated, it was a struggle to find any notable bowling performer with the likes of Roy and Fakhar unleashing the beast inside them.
Brief scores
Lahore Qalandars 204/5 in 20 overs (Zaman 70, Brook 41*; Mudassar 2/43) lost to Quetta Gladiators 207/3 in 19.3 overs (Roy 116, Vince 49*; Ghulam 1/15) by 7 wickets
