Sarfraz seals thriller
sharjah — Lahore Qalandars got a whiff of causing an upset before the Quetta Gladiators stubbed it, off the final ball, to make it an ominous four wins from four in the Pakistan Super League on Saturday night.
The Qalandars almost took a leaf out of Islamabad United’s book in trying to defend a low total of 143 but Quetta captain Sarfraz Ahmed shepherded the chase with an unbeaten 52 from 36 deliveries with four boundaries and a lone six, to win by three wickets at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
With two needed from the last ball, Sarfraz smacked pacer David Wiese for a six to complete a successful chase.
Lahore Qalandars had a great start with Quetta Gladiators opener Shane Watson falling for nought, knocking down Rahat Ali down substitute fielder Devcich’s throat, off the third ball of the chase.
A little later, Rilee Rossouw was castled by leg spinner Yasir Shah to leave the Gladiators on 26-2.
Young leg spinner Sandeep Lamichhane applied pressure at the other end with a tidy over that saw only three runs come off it.
But opener Ahsan Ali struck a six and a boundary off Shah to release the pressure. It ebbed and flowed yet again with a tentative Umar Akmal poking at rookie pacer Haris Rauf to be caught by wicketkeeper Gauhar Ali to leave them at 53-3.
And it could’ve been 53-4 next ball after captain Sarfraz Ahmed was run out by Corey Anderson. But it was deemed to be a dead ball as they had initially appealed for a leg before following which Sarfraz scampered to return to the crease.
After Dwayne Smith was run out by Fakhar Zaman, Lamichhane made it interesting by going through the defences of opener and top scorer Ahsan Ali.
But Sarfraz quelled the challenge at the death.
Earlier, it was down to their captain AB de Villiers to come up with a rescue act once again after the Lahore Qalandars were heading almost nowhere.
After his pyrotechnics on Friday night which saw the Qalandars chase down Multan Sultans’ 200, AB came up with an unbeaten 45 from 40 deliveries with two boundaries.
His knock as well as contributions from opener Sohail Akhtar, David Wiese and Corey Anderson saw the Qalandars reach 143-7 in their 20 overs. It was a score that was well under par. New find Ghulam Mudassar did the damage against the Qalandars, with the pacer picking up three wickets.