KARACHI: Saud Shakeel crawled along, with few restrictions and an increasing run rate. Lahore Qalandars sensed an elusive victory in the HBL Pakistan Super League match on Sunday at the National Bank Stadium, even though the Quetta Gladiators’ opening possession appeared to be “taking it deep.”
Despite dragging himself to a fifty-score, Saud’s team had to score 29 runs in the final two overs to surpass the target of 167 runs.
At that moment, the Qalandars realized that the left-hander from Quetta had been secretly preparing an ambush all along, using extreme subtlety to disguise his movements.
Saud took Jahandad Khan for a six over long off after Laurie Evans, at the other end, had driven him for a four through the covers. Saud had extraordinary coolness to boldly reverse sweep a low full ball for four before lifting him over mid-off for another boundary, even though he lost Evans to Qalandars captain Shaheen in the last over.
Saud left it to late-order hitter Mohammad Wasim Jr. to deliver the final blow of the ambush when he raced for a single on the next ball, the last, with Quetta needing four off it.
Quetta won the match by six wickets and secured a spot in the playoffs thanks to the right-hander’s impressive swing with the bat, which met a slot delivery from Shaheen and soared over midwicket for a six.
Left-handed Saud, who finished with 88 not out from 65, had nearly carried Quetta by himself when wickets fell at critical junctures at the other end. The first one was Jason Roy, Saud’s opening partner, who fell prey to Jahandad after the Gladiators scored three straight fours off Shaheen to take a 43-1 lead in powerplay.
Quetta passed the 50-run mark when Saud, who had earlier displayed his class by hitting pacer Tayyab Abbas over midwicket and for four more against Shaheen and a six over extra-cover off David Wiese, whacked him.
After a review, the decision to declare Rossouw leg before wicket was maintained, and Jahandad struck once more in the ninth over, leaving Quetta at 72-2 at the end of the 10th over.
After Rossouw was removed from the game, Quetta’s run rate dropped. However, Saud broke the spell, reaching his fifty in forty-two balls and then reaching the hundred mark in the fourteenth over with a ramp shot off slow left-armer George Linde and a sweep against off-spinner Sikandar Raza.
After Khawaja Nafay, who had lifted Jahandad imperiously for a six in the 17th over, was trapped leg before wicket by Shaheen in the following over, ending a 70-run partnership between him and Saud, before Quetta closed it up, Saud smoked Raza over deep midwicket with a powerful sweep for six in the 15th over.
After Lahore won the toss and decided to bat first, they were helped to reach 166-4 by half centuries from Abdullah Shafique and Shaheen after openers Sahibzada Farhan and Mirza Tahir Baig were dismissed.
With Abdullah adding an undefeated 59 off 39 and Shaheen blasting 55 off 34, the pair combined for 91 off 57 balls.
After losing Shai Hope cheaply to a Wasim inswinger that took the inside edge and flew to wicketkeeper Evans, who acrobatically dipped to his left to take a one-handed catch, the Qalandars were 38-2 at the end of the powerplay. Spinner Abrar Ahmed had taken both wickets in the sixth over.
Even before Hope left the game, Abdullah, who had entered on the strength of a half-century against Karachi Kings the day before, was showing signs of being in high form.
In the seventh over, the right-hander smashed a booming pull off Wasim and a flawless cover drive. He perfectly performed a reverse sweep against Abrar.
Playing at 19 in the ninth over, Abdullah looked to take on spinner Akeal Hosein when he was dropped by Jason Roy at wide long-on, giving him another chance at life before losing Hope on the other end.
As Shaheen came up the order, he found it difficult to bat against the ball, much less go for big hits, in his first few minutes at the crease. At this point, the Qalandars had already amassed 70-3. The Pakistan T20 captain managed to knock Abrar off the back foot for his first boundary, but he could only muster singles and doubles. Three overs later, he finally got going for Lahore’s next four when he blasted pacer Sohail Khan up and over wide long-on.
After that, Abdullah hit Hosein for six with a brilliant lofted cover drive. Shaheen then finished the 15th over with two more maximums, a slog sweep over midwicket and a stunning hit over cover against the Guyanese all-rounder.
Once again, Shaheen found the boundary easily on the leg-side against Abrar, and he sent the spinner over long-off to reach his fifty in just 27 balls.
After hitting a well-timed, lofty, and lengthy six over long off of Hosein in the 18th over, Abdullah took the Qalandars to 150 runs in 34 balls.
Shaheen had many opportunities to skite the ball, but the Quetta fielders did not appear to take full advantage of them. After being ultimately removed by Amir in the penultimate over bowled, Raza’s off-side slash claimed the Qalandars at 166-4.
