Led by Khawaja Nafey's breezy unbeaten half-century and Akeal Hosein's stingy spell, Quetta Gladiators made it two in two in PSL 2024 by beating Lahore Qalandars by five wickets at the Gadaffi Stadium on Monday. The visitors chased down the 188-run target with five balls to spare and as many wickets in hand.
Chasing a stiff target, Gladiators made a steady start. However, Haris Rauf - bowling the second over - was awry with his lines and delivered three wide balls to give the visitors an edge in the run-chase. Saud Shakeel and Jason Roy took advantage of the other errors in length to pick up easy boundaries and get the score flying in the powerplay. Shakeel even took the attack to Shaheen Afridi and scooped him over fine leg for a six in the third over. Two overs later, Zaman Khan made a mess of an opportunity to dismiss Roy on 20. The duo added 69 runs in 41 balls, 61 of which came in the powerplay.
In the space of four deliveries, Zaman Khan and Sikandar Raza cleaned up the openers to break the momentum. Rilee Rossouw struck a couple of boundaries off Salman Fayyaz to get going, after already having lapped Raza for a boundary, but struggled during the remainder of his stay. Raza was largely stingy but Haris Rauf returned for a his second spell and was neatly hit for two sixes by Rayaf in a 16-run over. He did dismiss Rossouw but again released the pressure of the required rate.
Zaman Khan stretched Qalandars in what should've been an easier chase, but there wasn't a lot of support from the other end. Rafay brought up his maiden PSL half-century in the 18th over with a drive past the mid off fielder for a boundary. He remained unbeaten on 60 to see his side through without any late twists.
Earlier in the day after Qalandars elected to bat, Hosein made a stunning start with the ball, having Fakhar Zaman in all sorts of trouble. Looking to cut the second ball, he offered Mohammad Wasim Jr an easy opportunity, but he put him down. Nonetheless, the southpaw couldn't make amends after being put under pressure by the left-armer and eventually in the third over, mistimed while attempting to go over the top and was caught at mid on.
Hosein didn't give away easy runs in the powerplay, and by the end of four overs, Lahore Qalandars managed only 23 runs.
Soon after the powerplay, Gladiators struck again with Abrar Ahmad tricking Rassie van der Dussen and having him bowled through his bat and pad. The dismissal came soon after a half-century stand between Sahibzada Farhan and van der Dussen. However, it was the former who had taken the charge, welcoming Wasim Jr with two boundaries in the fifth over before clubbing Abrar for a boundary and a six in the seventh.
Farhan also rode his luck, this time Wasim Jr being at the receiving end of the misfortune, when the batter's top edge was dropped by Hasnain at third man. Farhan, batting on 44, fell soon after but not before smashing consecutive sixes off Hasnain.
Hosein returned to the attack and bowled a couple of more stingy overs, finishing his spell with figures of 2-17, and Qalandars kept losing wickets in their bid to accelerate. The only batter who found success through the death overs was Jahandad Khan, who blazed away to an unbeaten 17-ball 45, clubbing three sixes and four boundaries and helping propel the side to 187 for 7, which in the end wasn't enough.
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