Quetta Gladiators continued their miserable start to their Pakistan Super League campaign as they were overcome by an inspired Islamabad United.
Paul Stirling led Islamabad to a six-wicket win as he hit an impressive 56 off 33 balls.
The game was scheduled to take place on Monday but was postponed by a day after Islamabad leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed tested positive for coronavirus.
Earlier on Tuesday, two more overseas players (one from Islamabad’s side) and one support staff member tested positive for Covid-19.
Islamabad United won the toss and elected to field first (would you believe). The Sheru’s, who were the inaugural PSL champions, then proceeded to rattle through Quetta’s top order.
Quetta Gladiators’ innings
Saim Ayub was dismissed in just the fifth ball of the game for five runs thanks to a superb catch from Stirling at backward point. The ball took an edge off Ayub’s bat and on tip-toes Stirling reached high to pluck the ball out of the sky.
Cameron Delport, who’d opened the batting with Ayub was next to fall, doing so on the first ball of the third over. Off stump was knocked out of the ground by Faheem Ashraf as Delport completely mistimed his attempt to send the ball flying back down the ground.
At the time of Delport’s dismissal, the Gladiators were 21-2 after 13 balls. With both their opening batsmen gone so early, it’d take something special to obtain a decent total from the innings.
Faf du Plessis, who has so far struggled to make the desired impact on Quetta’s team, was sent packing just eight balls after Delport, for a score of just 17. He was given LBW off Hasan Ali’s bowling and although the South African – who’s highest T20 run total is 119 – appealed, it was to no avail. They were now 27-3 after three and a half overs.
Sarfaraz Ahmed was the only Gladiator to score above 35 on Tuesday as he hit a respectable 54 off 41 balls. Ahmed, who came to the crease when Delport departed, stayed for 14-and-a-half overs and offered some form of stability at one end while other batsmen came and left before his eyes. During his time batting, he shared the role with three others: original partner Du Plessis, Azam Khan and Ben Cutting. The latter duo were dismissed for four and 23 runs respectively.
Ahmed was eventually broken when Faheem Ashraf’s delivery crashed into his pads after a big swing and a miss. After originally being given out, a review from Ahmed appeared to show the ball narrowly missing the leg stump. However, it was shown to be hitting and Sarfaraz was dismissed as such. Of course, he’ll be naturally disappointed with the manner of his dismissal, but he can hold his head high in retrospect.
Mohammad Nawaz added 31 to the total from the 29 balls he faced. This included a solitary four and a single six. By the time the Purple Force’s overs were up they’d achieved a total of 156-7. It looked as if the victory would be going to the side who fielded first, as has been the case in every other game this tournament.
Striling shines with the bat in Islamabad’s innings
Islamabad went about their work with the bat furiously as openers Alex Hales and Stirling put on 76 runs before Hales’ wicket fell at the end of the sixth over to Zahid Mahmood’s spin bowling. Hales himself only hit 23, but with a score of 76-1 accumulated so quickly it felt as if the game was already over.
The batting performance of the match belonged to Hales’ partner, Irishman Stirling. He hit 56 off 33 balls which included an astonishing 10 boundaries (eight fours, two sixes). His excellent innings was brought to an abrupt end in the 10th over when he misread a Mahmood googly that sent his middle stump flying. Stirling had looked tired after reaching 50 and struggled against Mohammad Hasnain and Steyn’s bowling beforehand.
With Stirling gone, Islamabad were 93-2 through nine-and-a-half overs.
After Stirling’s wicket fell; Rohail Nazir, captain Shadab Khan, Asif Ali and a single from Hussain Talat were enough to see United cruise past the Gladiators’ total. Nazir hit 34 before being caught by the 18-year-old Naseem Shah on the ring after attempting to smash Steyn’s delivery for six.
The result was confirmed when, on the final ball of the 17th over, Talat flicked Hasnain’s delivery to deep fine leg for a quick single to clinch a six-wicket victory with three overs to spare for United.
The result means Quetta are still searching for their first win of the tournament but they have a chance to correct things as early as Wednesday when they play the Multan Sultans in the night-time game (2pm UK time).
The other game on Wednesday sees Karachi Kings take on Peshawar Zalmi in what promises to be an extremely exciting clash (9:00pm UK time).
