PSL: Quetta Gladiators’ Kumar Sangakkara and Kevin Pietersen cast gloom over Chris Gayle’s Lahore Qalandars in run feast

The hopes of qualifying for Qalandars were left hanging by the thread as the Gladiators won by two wickets at the Dubai International Stadium.

As if there was not enough drama in the match between Lahore Qalandars and Quetta Gladiators, Dwayne Bravo was bowled off a no-ball. Courtesy PSL

Until yesterday, the criticism against Lahore Qalandars was that they were a bunch of stars who have failed to shine collectively in this Pakistan Super League. That explained their bottom position on the table along side Karachi Kings.

With one side scheduled to miss out on the play-offs in the five-team league, Lahore’s missing stars took centre stage and racked up a mammoth 202 runs for two against Quetta Gladiators. But their hopes of qualifying were left hanging by the thread as the Gladiators won by two wickets at the Dubai International Stadium on Tuesday night.

The Gladiators must have made Vivian Richards proud as the West Indies great watched from the dugout while the batsmen swatted at every ball to chip away at their target just like he did during his pomp in the late 1980s.

None of the bowlers could get a grip on the ball in heavy dew conditions and sweated it out as batsmen flung their arms at will.

When Lahore batted first, the signs looked good with Chris Gayle (60) leading from the front despite a troublesome back. Keeping him company were fellow opener and captain Azhar Ali (61), Umar Akmal (55 not out) and Dwayne Bravo (20 not out).

But the Quetta batsmen were not to be outdone, and they experience of star batsmen Kevin Pietersen and Kumar Sangakkara to steered them home.

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While the two did not disappoint, opener Bismillah Khan set the tone for the charge with a knock of 55 runs in just 30 balls with just one six and 10 boundaries.

His partner, Ahmed Shehzad, was out early on the first ball of Ehsan Adil’s over, the third of the innings, but Pietersen put Quetta back on track and well on their way with five successive boundaries to finish the over.

When the two left on back-to-back deliveries, Sangakkara and captain Sarfraz Ahmed kept the target in sight. With 15 runs required from the last over, Mohammed Nabi (30) came up with one more five-star effort to nail it for Quetta.

That had looked unlikely at one stage when Quetta bowlers kept bowling full-toss deliveries. But every ball needs to be hit cleanly as Gayle showed in leading the way. Except for one boundary that took a thick edge and went to backward square-leg, his other two fours and six sixes were all hit in the batsman’s v-zone.

Azhar, on the other side, was all orthodox and still managed to keep pace with the West Indian.

Umar joined in the party with three consecutive sixes to jump to 49 while Bravo’s knock included a lofted cover drive to sail the ropes.

Lahore had 100 runs for no loss in the first 10 overs and finished with 202 for two, showing their consistent pace of scoring.

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