ISLAMABAD: Quetta Gladiators suffered a crushing defeat by 63 runs in the 13th Pakistan Super League (PSL) match at the National Stadium Karachi on Friday after Islamabad United won the toss and set a mammoth target of 221.
Islamabad did not have a steady beginning and lost Rahmanullah Gurbaz (8), Rassie van der Dussen (1) and Shadab Khan (12) in the first seven overs.
Colin Munro tried to stay at the crease and scored 38 off 22 deliveries. However, his stumps were scattered by Aimal Khan in the 10th over when United were on 71.
The man who came to Islamabad’s rescue was Azam Khan who played a magnificent innings and scored 97 off 42 deliveries. The team was also helped by Asif Ali (42 off 24) and Faheem Ashraf (17 off 6) who played some big hits and maintained the pace of the innings.
Islamabad scored 220 after losing 6 wickets at the end of 20 overs.
In response, Quetta lost some quick early wickets, though Mohammad Hafeez (48 off 26), Sarfaraz Ahmed (41 off 36) and Iftikhar Ahmed (39 off 27) tried to stabilize things and keep the scoreboard ticking.
Quetta lost all their wickets in the 20th over after scoring 157.
Gladiators are ranked 6th on the points table, while United is at number two.
So far, the Gladiators have not been able to set a solid foundation to their campaign and only won one of four matches they have played.
The Gladiators’ last match was on Feb. 21 when Lahore Qalandars defeated them with a brilliant all-round performance, taking the opponents down by 63 runs.
Islamabad United’s last contest was on Thursday, when they cruised to a victory over Peshawar Zalmi by six wickets and 31 balls to spare.
United cruise to victory against Gladiators in 13th PSL clash
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United cruise to victory against Gladiators in 13th PSL clash
- Azam Khan’s score of 97 off 42 deliveries helped Islamabad United set a huge target of 221
- Quetta Gladiators were defeated by 63 runs after losing all their wickets in the 20th over
Pakistan vaccinates over 13.6 million children on first day of nationwide anti-polio campaign
- Pakistan launched week-long nationwide campaign to vaccinate over 45 million children on Monday
- Health workers vaccinate over 7 million children in Punjab, three million in Sindh and 2.2 million in KP provinces
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani health workers vaccinated over13.6 million children on the first day of the nationwide anti-polio campaign, the National Emergency Operations (NEOC) said in a statement on Tuesday.
Pakistan launched the Feb. 2-8 campaign, the first of this year, in the country’s Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan (KP) areas on Monday. The campaign will target over 45 million children in the territories.
“Over 13.6 million children vaccinated nationwide on the first day of the campaign,” the NEOC said in a statement, adding that over 7.3 million children were vaccinated in the eastern Punjab province.
Over 3 million children were vaccinated in Sindh, 2.275 million in KP, 559,000 in the southwestern Balochistan province, 82,000 in GB and 233,000 in Azad Kashmir.
“Polio is an incurable disease that can cause lifelong disability in children,” the NEOC said. “Parents urged to open their doors to polio workers and ensure their children receive polio drops.”
Eliminating poliovirus remains a critical health initiative of Pakistan, which along with Afghanistan, is one of only two countries worldwide where the virus is endemic. Pakistan reported 31 cases of polio in 2025, which authorities say is a significant decline from the alarming 74 cases of the disease it reported in 2024.
Polio workers and their security escorts have repeatedly been targeted in militant attacks, particularly in parts of Pakistan’s KP and Balochistan provinces, complicating efforts to vaccinate children in remote areas.
A gun attack targeting a polio vaccination team in the northwestern Bajaur district in December 2025 left one police constable and a civilian dead.
Natural disasters, such as floods, have also disrupted vaccination campaigns in recent years.
