The Quetta Gladiators won their third consecutive match on Wednesday against the Multan Sultans in their 2019 Pakistan Super League fixture at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

The side cruised to victory with a power show by Rossouw and Watson who posted 67* and 61 runs respectively.

Multan Sultans innings

The Sultans had set a 161-run target for the Gladiators after losing the toss and having had to bat first.

Skipper Shoaib Malik was the highest scorer for the Sultans with 53 runs. JM Vince made 28 runs while Shan Masood, DT Christian and AD Russell made 18 runs a piece.

The final over of the innings featured three wickets by the Gladiators' Ghulam Mudassar.

Quetta Gladiators innings

Having won the toss, Quetta had opted to bowl/field first as has become a tried-and-tested success formula for the side this year. They have won the toss each time so far, elected to bowl, and come out on top at the end.

With just two players down, courtesy Mohammad Irfan and Shahid Afridi, the side was able to chase the target in 18.3 overs.

Shane Watson, also crowned the man of the match, scored 61 off 40. Rossouw made 67 off 45 and Umar Akmal added 17 off 18 balls to the score. Ahsan Ali was the only other batsman to have stood at the crease and contributed nine runs.

Following a two-day break, matches in the PSL resumed today in Sharjah.

Gladiators are leading the PSL 2019 points table having won both their previous matches against arch-rivals Peshawar Zalmi and Islamabad United.

Read more: Gladiators eye Sultans’ scalp at start of Sharjah leg

Sultans had mixed fortunes in the first two games they have played to date, losing to Karachi Kings before staging a recovery to defeat United.

Line-ups:

Quetta Gladiators: 1 Shane Watson, 2 Ahsan Ali, 3 Rilee Rossouw, 4 Umar Akmal, 5 Dwayne Smith, 6 Safraz Ahmed, 7 Mohammad Nawaz, 8 Ghuilam Mudassar, 9 Sohail Tanvir, 10 Mohammad Irfan jnr., 11 Fawad Ahmed

Multan Sultans: 1 Shan Masood, 2 James Vince, 3 Laurie Evans, 4 Shoaib Malik, 5 Dan Christian, 6 Andre Russell, 7 Shahid Afridi, 8 Shakeel Ansar, 9 Nauman Ali, 10 Ali Shafiq, 11 Mohammad Irfan