After a late scare in their chase of 139 at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium, the Quetta Gladiators defeated Islamabad United on Thursday by three wickets, thanks to useful batsman Rilee Rossouw, Sherfane Rutherford, and Jason Roy.
Quetta won the toss and elected to play first on what appeared to be a dry pitch that helped bowlers. Shadab Khan, the captain of Islamabad United, stated that although they would have bowled first as well, he preferred to bat on the track because spinners would eventually be used.
Alex Hales smashed 21 off 9 to get Islamabad off to a flying start. He was removed off Akeal Hosein after hitting two sixes in the over, and he nearly made Quetta pay instantly. The bowlers from Quetta took some relief from being dismissed, as they returned to the game and managed the run flow.
Islamabad finished at 60/1 after six overs when in-form Agha Salman blasted Mohammad Hasnain four fours in the last over of the powerplay. But because to some excellent middle-overs as well as death-overs bowling by Quetta, Islamabad was unable to build on their strong start as dropped the following eight wickets, contributing just 78 more runs to the innings total. All hell was about to break loose. Abrar Ahmed, the bowler who went unidentified, was notable for taking three vital wickets, including Salman as well as Colin Munro.
Despite five of the batters from Islamabad having reasonable beginnings, none of them was able to contribute significantly. Quetta took a cautious approach at first as the chase started. Quetta was never in a comfortable position during the chase thanks to the tight lines and lengths bowled by the Islamabad United bowlers, led by Naseem Shah.
Later in the evening, the trend of batters failing to convert their starts persisted as just three Quetta batsmen—Roy, Rossouw, and Rutherford—captured 71% of the chase total, leaving the remainder to be completed by other players. And even though there was a rush of wickets in the middle and last overs, Quetta was still in the game.
All they really needed was Russouw to remain through to the very end. With Muhammad Amir providing assistance with the bat at the other end, Quetta managed to reduce the total with ten balls remaining.
Russouw’s 34 runs without a wicket earned him the Player of the Match title.
SOURCE: DAWN NEWS
