SHARJAH: Quetta Gladiators received a setback on Tuesday when Australian paceman John Hastings was ruled out of the remainder of the HBL Pakistan Super League through injury.

Hastings, who has represented his country in one Test, 29 One-day Internationals and nine Twenty20 Internationals, suffered a side strain during a training session, according to Quetta team manager Azam Khan.

“John is already on his way to Australia to get proper treatment. At this point in time the team management decided it would be too risky for him stay here because injury like this requires more time to heal up,” Azam told Dawn from the team’s hotel in Dubai.

The 32-year-old Hastings played just three matches in his maiden PSL season and bagged only two wickets for 77 runs with an economy rate of 7.70 per over.

Hard-hitting opening batsman Jason Roy, who has flown in from New Zealand after being part of the England side which won the ODI series 3-2, has joined the squad in Dubai on Monday afternoon and will be in contention for a place when current leaders Quetta take on Lahore Qalandars here at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.

“The arrival of Jason obviously strengthens our batting line-up and is available for selection in Quetta’s next game against Lahore tomorrow [Wednesday].

Meanwhile, the discarded Pakistan seamer Umar Gul has recovered from the knee injury sustained during his career-best spell of 6-24 against Quetta six days ago when he took the field for Multan Sultans’ crucial fixture against Islamabad on Tuesday night.

Multan currently are in precarious situation after losing three games — versus defending champions Peshawar Zalmi, Quetta and Lahore — on the trot during third leg of the tournament at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium last week.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2018