Under-pressure Pakistan opener Ahmed Shehzad hit form at the right moment as he scored 71 off 61 balls to help Quetta Gladiators defeat Karachi Kings by eight wickets in the Pakistan Super League yesterday.
Shehzad found an able partner in Luke Wright (47) as they chased down 148 for a comfortable win. He smacked five boundaries and four sixes in his knock. England discard Kevin Pietersen stroked 29 off 17 balls.
Quetta’s decision to bowl first paid immediate dividends as Karachi openers Nauman Anwar and Lendl Simmons were dismissed inside the powerplay.
The innings stuttered further as Shoaib Malik’s Karachi Kings found themselves on 4-69 in 11.4 overs as Quetta captain Sarfraz Ahmed shuffled his bowler’s smartly.
Malik (37 off 25) and England’s Ravi Bopara (40 off 29), hit some lusty blows to take the innings to 147/7 in 20 overs.
In response, Quetta found it smooth sailing against the likes of Mohamed Amir, Sohail Tanvir, Imad Wasim and Shakib Al Hasan, all of whom found it difficult to contain the opposition.
The win gave Quetta their second win in two games and the underrated side look like tournament-favourites all of a sudden. They will take on a strong Peshawar Zalmi side today.
Shehzad said he wasn’t too worried about the battle for World Twenty20 spots and was solely focused on the PSL campaign.
“For the last three years I have been giving my best for the Pakistan team. I play sincerely and work very hard. I am still young. There are times when a player fails to deliver consistently. Every player faces such times and its normal.”
Earlier, Peshawar Zalmi’s bowling attack had another fine night as they restricted Lahore Qalandars to 117 for 6 to set up a nine-wicket victory.
With Chris Gayle, Umar Akmal, Azhar Ali and Dwayne Bravo, Lahore have arguably the best batting line-up in the Pakistan Super League.
But Peshawar had the upper hand right from the first ball - Junaid Khan went full and straight and Gayle’s stumps went for a toss. Two deliveries later, Cameron Delport was run out for a duck courtesy a direct hit from Shahid Yousuf at mid-on. Azhar (31), Akmal (21) and Bravo (32) helped Lahore last the full quota of overs. Left-arm spinner Mohamed Asghar picked up 2 for 11 and an economy rate of 2.75. Shahid Afridi, the captain, finished with 0 for 18 from his four overs.
A required rate less than run-a-ball in the chase was never going to be a problem and it proved so as Peshawar openers Tamim Iqbal (55*) and Mohamed Hafeez (43) knocked off 80% of the target. They added 95 in 68 balls and the remaining 23 runs were secured with ease.