Qalandars thrash Gladiators for first PSL victory
- Published
Lahore Qalandars recorded their first win of the Pakistan Super League season with a 79-run thrashing of Quetta Gladiators.
Gladiators, who recorded their own 80-run victory over Peshawar Zalmi on Saturday, were never in a chase for 220, slipping to 9-3.
They rebuilt to a more respectable 106-5, but then lost four wickets for eight runs before Asif Afridi wrapped up the match by bowling Faheem Ashraf in the 17th over.
Opener Fakhar Zaman began the Qalandars innings strongly, striking 67 from 39.
Abdullah Shafique and Daryl Mitchell added a pair of 37-run innings, prior to Sam Billings lashing an unbeaten 50 from 19 to close the Qalandars effort on 219-6.
The Gladiators' top-order crumbled in their reply, with captain Saud Shakeel and Hasan Nawaz caught for one apiece and Finn Allen taken by compatriot Mitchell off Shaheen Shah Afridi (2-6) for a three-ball duck.
Kusal Mendis (28 from 14) and Rilee Rossouw (44 from 19) offered some resistance, but the latter's dismissal, the first of 3-31 for spinner Rishad Hossain, prompted a second collapse.
Faheem (21 from 18) held out for a time, but his stumps were splayed by Asif to see the Gladiators dismissed for 140.
Qalandars leap from fifth to first in the early table with one win and one defeat, while Gladiators drop from top to fourth on net run-rate with the same record.
