MATCH REPORT
Follow UsThe spin trio of Qais Ahmad, Mohammad Nawaz and Zahid Mahmood finish with 6 for 83 between them to help Quetta Gladiators register their first win of Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2021, overcoming Multan Sultans by 22 runs. Playing only his second game of the tournament, Qais bounced back extremely well after he conceded 43 runs without picking up a wicket in the previous game – against Karachi Kings – as he bagged impressive figures of 3 for 21 in this match.
He was well supported by Nawaz (1 for 23) and Mahmood (2 for 39) as the Gladiators out-spun their opponents in this encounter. This is also the first instance where the a team has successfully defended a total in PSL 2021 after the first 13 matches saw the team chasing crossing the finish line.
In pursuit of 177, Sultans made an excellent start to the chase, knocking off 53 without losing a wicket in the powerplay. They lost their way in the middle-overs in which they not just lost four wickets, but managed just 63 runs between overs seven and 15. However, with Mohammad Rizwan still at the crease, Multan would have believed that they could still pull his off. He brought up his third fifty of PSL 2021 off just 37 deliveries, but soon enough, he began to run out of partners.
He did quite well against Mahmood earlier in the innings and looked to take the spinner on once again with the required run-rate getting more and more out of control, but managed to hole out at deep square-leg for 66 off 50. Mahmood got Sohail Khan too off the next delivery and was unlucky to miss out on a hat-trick after Ben Cutting – who held on to everything that came his way till then – dropped a simple catch running into the ball. It was a disastrous final phase for Multan, who lost as many as six wickets for 38 runs.
Earlier, Gladiators rode on an impressive 50-ball 81 by Usman Khan on his PSL debut. Along with Saim Ayub, Usman put on 69 for the first wicket and then grew from strength to strength before he was trapped in front by Imran Tahir, attempting a reverse sweep. However, from 122 for 1 Gladiators collapsed to 155 for 4 in a span of four overs to relinquish the advantage they initially had.
They looked well on course to reach a score in excess of 190, but some excellent bowling especially by young fast bowler Shahnawaz Dhani saw Multan pull things back and they successfully restricted Quetta to 176 for 7 despite a late onslaught by Nawaz (20 off 10).
Multan who have just one win in five matches will look to bounce back when they take on defending champions Karachi Kings at the National Stadium on Friday (March 5). Quetta, on the other hand, will play Islamabad United on Saturday (March 6).
Brief scores:
Quetta Gladiators 176 for 7 in 20 Overs (Usman Khan 81, Saim Ayub 23; Shahnawaz Dhani 3 for 44) beat Multan Sultans 154 in 19.4 Overs (Mohammad Rizwan 66, James Vince 24; Qais Ahmad 3 for 21) by 22 runs.
Player of the match: Qais Ahmad