LAHORE, Pakistan: Quetta Gladiators clinched a second win from two Pakistan Super League matches by defeating scrappy defending champion Lahore Qalandars by five wickets on Monday.
Unheralded Khawaja Nafay showed plenty of confidence against the star-studded pace attack of Lahore. Nafay defied the likes of Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf by hitting three sixes and four boundaries. He flicked Fakhar Zaman to the fine leg boundary for the winning runs and an unbeaten 60 off 31 balls.
Quetta romped to 188-5 with five balls to spare after Lahore’s 187-7.
Lahore lost a second successive match on the home ground after dropping three catches.
Lahore opening batter Sahibzada Farhan, dropped on 44, made 62 off 43 balls but it was a breezy unbeaten 45 off 17 balls by Jahandad Khan, who was promoted at No. 5, which propelled them.
Jahandad claimed the momentum in the death overs by hitting four sixes and three boundaries. Jahandad upped the ante when he smacked Abrar Ahmed for three sixes in the leg-spinner’s last over which went for 23.
Quetta made a brisk start to its chase thanks to Jason Roy, 24 runs, and Saud Shakeel, 40. Roy was dropped twice as they combined for 69, another scintillating opening stand after their century partnership against Peshawar.
Both batters fell in successive overs after dominating the powerplay. Zaman Khan clean-bowled Shakeel with a yorker and Roy swiped wildly at spinner Raza’s short ball that hit the middle stump.
Lahore part-time wicketkeeper Farhan had another lapse in the field when he dropped former Quetta captain Sarfaraz Ahmed off the first ball he faced from Rauf.
