KARACHI: All Quetta Gladiators needed was Jason Roy.

After a woeful start to their HBL Pakistan Super League campaign, it was the Englishman’s brutal hitting that inspired the Gladiators to their second win in five matches, snapping a run of two losses, as they pulverized the Lahore Qalandars by seven wickets here at the National Stadium on Monday.

Roy hit eight towering sixes and 11 boundaries in 116 off 57 deliveries, leaving the Qalandars scratching their heads. After all, they had posted 204 on the board after having been put in to bat. But Roy enabled the Gladiators to make short work of the total they had to chase.

His intentions were clear when he danced down the ground to clear long-off for a six off Shaheen Shah Afridi’s on only the second ball of the innings.

The right-hander then dispatched two full tosses by Shaheen for boundaries as the Pakistan bowling spearhead conceded 15 to start with.

Gladiators’ hero of their last match Zaman Khan too wasn’t spared by Roy, as he smashed two fours off him in the second over.

As Shaheen returned, Roy smacked two more boundaries before he took on Haris Rauf for two fours and as many sixes in the fourth over.

It was only in the sixth over when the audience was reminded that Ahsan Ali was also present on the crease as Roy caused destr­uction from the striker’s end.

When Ahsan walked off after finding Fakhar Zaman at the boundary off Kamran Ghulam, the batter had only played eight balls for seven runs.

Kamran’s over saw only three runs being conceded and the run-rate did get slower as the Gladiators managed 38 off the next five overs.

But Roy was on his bike again when he smoked David Wiese for a six over deep midwicket in the 12th before James Vince (49 not out) pulled him for his first boundary.

Roy welcomed back Zaman with two more maximums in the next over, first clearing mid-wicket and then bringing up his 100 off just 49 balls on a similar stroke. The 31-year-old followed it up with two boundaries off Rashid.

The carnage finally ended when Roy miscued a sweep shot off Wiese in the 16th for Haris to take an easy catch.

That saw the Gladiators momentarily get into the game with Iftikhar Ahmed was trapped leg-before by Haris after four balls but Vince, along with the arriving Mohammad Nawaz (25 off 12), took their time to bat maturely and end up achieving the target with three balls to spare.

Nawaz smashed two fours off Haris right after coming on and smashed a couple of maximums to finish the match.

It would certainly have left the Qalandars wishing they had done better when they batted.

Despite a slow start, they were able to score 78 runs off the last five overs to get past 200.

The onslaught took place after Fakhar (70 off 45, three fours and three sixes) fell after scoring another half-century when he played a Ghulam Mudassir yorker onto his stumps in the 17th over.

After the left-hander’s departure, it was Harry Brook (41* not out off 17) who took control of things. With Fakhar having already hit two fours in Mudassir’s over, Brooks ended it with another as the emerging pacer conceded 15.

Brook’s partner Wiese (22 not out off nine) then drove Mohammad Nawaz over extra cover for a boundary and went deep into his crease to plunder the spinner for a six over cover on the next ball.

The next over was utter destruction for Quetta as Brook alone smashed 24 runs in it off medium-pacer Luke Wood.

The Englishman flicked his compatriot for a six over fine leg, hit him straight down the ground for a four and pulled him over deep midwicket for another maximum before blasting for a boundary through extra cover — all on consecutive balls.

The last over looked comparatively economical for the Gladiators as Nasim Shah conceded 12 runs, including another six by Wiese and the South African and Brook combined for an unbeaten partnership of 55 off 20 balls.

The way Qalandars teed off their innings, it seemed as if they knew they’ll make up for their slow start later on.

In the powerplay, Fakhar and his opening partner Abdullah Shafique managed only 44 runs as the ball crossed the boundary only four times.

Fakhar turned it up only after Abdullah was run out following some brilliant work at deep mid-wicket and a quick and accurate throw by Nawaz in the eighth over.

Two overs later, Fakhar launched James Faulkner for a couple of outrageous sixes. The Mardan-born southpaw lofted the Australian for one over long-on before sweeping for another on one knee.

Kamran looked good after hitting sixes off Shahid Afridi and Iftikhar but fell prey to an extraordinary fielding effort by Vince on the long-on fence.

As the right-hander drove Iftikhar for what could have been his third maximum, Vince grabbed the ball right at the edge of the boundary while running in from a wider position.

Veteran Mohammad Hafeez was also gone after hitting a six off Mudassir in the 14th, when a top edge of his bat landed in Nasim’s hands in the deep. Phil Salt, who was impressive in the last match, also met the same fate as Hafeez.

Fakhar hit Nasim for a six in the 15th before the Qalandars pressed the accelerator in Mudassir’s next over. It wasn’t enough in the end.

Scoreboard

LAHORE QALANDARS:

Batsmen & mode of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR

Fakhar Zaman b Mudassir 70 45 3 3 155.55

Abdullah Shafique run out (Nawaz) 32 27 1 2 118.51

Kamran Ghulam c Vince b Iftikhar 19 13 0 2 146.15

Mohammad Hafeez c Nasim b Mudassir 8 5 0 1 160.00

Phil Salt c Nawaz b Wood 8 4 0 1 200.00

Harry Brook not out 41 17 4 2 241.17

David Wiese not out 22 9 1 2 244.44

EXTRAS (LB-3, W-1) 4

TOTAL (for five wickets, 20 overs) 204

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-61 (Shafique), 2-101 (Kamran), 1-112 (Hafeez), 4-124 (Salt), 5-149 (Fakhar)

DID NOT BAT: Rashid Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Zaman Khan.

BOWLING: Wood 4-0-45-1, Nasim 4-0-36-0 (1w), Faulkner 2-0-26-0, Mudassir 4-0-43-2 (2w), Afridi 3-0-25-0, Iftikhar 1-0-10-1, Nawaz 2-0-18-0.

QUETTA GLADIATORS:

Batsmen & mode of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR

Jason Roy c Haris b Wiese 116 57 11 8 203.50

Ahsan Ali c Fakhar b Kamran 7 8 1 0 87.50

James Vince not out 49 38 5 0 128.94

Iftikhar Ahmed lbw Haris 3 3 0 0 100.00

Mohammad Nawaz not out 25 12 1 2 208.33

EXTRAS (LB-4, NB-1, W-2) 7

TOTAL (for three wickets, 19.3 overs) 207

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-71 (Ahsan), 2-167 (Roy), 3-174 (Iftikhar),

DID NOT BAT: Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, James Faulkner, Luke Wood, Naseem Shah, Ghulam Mudassar

BOWLING: Shaheen 4-0-40-0 (1w), Zaman 3.3-0-42-0 (1nb), Haris 4-0-48-1, Rashid 4-0-32-0, Kamran 2-0-15-1 (1w), Wiese 2-0-26-1

RESULT: Quetta Gladiators won by seven wickets.

UMPIRES: Michael Gough (England) and Shozab Raza (Pakistan)

TV UMPIRE: Aleem Dar (Pakistan)

MATCH REFEREE: Iftikhar Ahmed (Pakistan)

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2022