Raza, Rauf, Rashid help Qalandars down Gladiators

LAHORE, Mar 03 (APP):A defiant knock of 71 not out, raw pace of Haris Rauf and guile of Rashid Khan helped Lahore Qalandars defend par total to beat Quetta Gladiators by 17 runs and consolidate their top position on the points table with 10 points from 6 matches in the HBL PSL 8 here at the Gaddadi Stadium on Thursday night.

Sikandar Raza, player of the match, had rescued Lahore Qalandars from the gallows after they were restricted to 50-7 in the 10th over of their innings by Quetta Gladiators after Sarfraz Ahmed won the toss and opted to bowl in overcast condition with rain forecast for the night.

Ace Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikandar Raza and Rashid Khan played from their skins and notched up a partnership of 69 runs from 39 balls for the eighth wicket and provided some respectability to the team total. Sikandar Raza hit three lofty 6s and eight boundaries in his unbeaten knock of 71 runs while Rashid Khan hit 21 runs off 20 runs.

Gladiators looked all set to chase down the par total of 148 runs as Yasir Khan and Will Smeed played fluently against the pace trio of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Zaman Khan and provided an opening stand of 53 runs in the power-play but the Gladiators lost their way as Rashid Khan, David Wiese and Haris Rauf put brakes through their economical bowling.

Gladiators lost three quick wickets for six runs in the next four overs and were precariously placed at 62-3 by the close of 10th over. Their fortunes did not improve as Qalandars’ bowlers stifled the Gladiators batters for runs and restricted them to 97-5 by the close of 15th overs.

Will Smeed 32 (25) was the highest run-getter for Gladiators while Sarfraz Ahmed remained unbeaten on 27 (28) balls. Martin Guptill 15 (20), Odean Smith 11 (9), Mohammad Hafeez 2 (7), Iftikhar Ahmed 3 (5) and Mohammad Nawaz 4 (6) could never play freely and fell one after the other as the
Qalnadars did not look to make a mistake before a partisan home crowd.

It was third night on the trot that the Gaddafi stadium witnessed a house full after as many matches at the cricket headquarters of the PCB.

Gladiators needed 52 runs in the last five overs with Sarfraz Ahmed and Odean Smith at the crease but Haris Rauf bowled with venom and accuracy to claim two wickets of Odean Smith and Muhammad Nawaz in 12 ball to annihilate all hopes of a victory for Gladiators.

Haris Rauf was the most successful bowler for the Qalandars who claimed three wickets for 22 runs in four overs while Rashid Khan was the most economical bowler as he grabbed two wickets for mere 14 runs in his quota of four overs. The other notable performer was Davis Wiese who conceded 22 runs for the prized scalp of Martin Guptil 15 (20) in four wicket-less overs. Shaheen Shah Afridi and Zaman Khan went wicketless and conceded 35 and 29 runs from their four and three overs respectively. Sikandar Raza bowled one over for six runs.

Earlier, Sarfraz Ahmed’s decision to bowl after winning the toss paid rich dividends when the Gladiators pace quartet of Naseem Shah, Naveenul Haq, Odean Smith’s and Umaid Asif rattled the Lahore Qalandars batting line-up.

Lahore Qalandars lost the script in the very first over of the match when Fakhar Zaman was run out through brilliant fielding by Umaid Asif who was playing his first game of the HBL PSL 8. Umaid Asif also accounted for the wicket of opener Tahir Baig in his first and third of the innings.

Lahore Qalandars batting line-up proved house of cards as their seven wickets fell for mere 50 runs. Naveenul Haq, also playing his first match of the PSL 8, Naseem Shah, Odean Smith, Umaid Asif and Muhammad Nawaz shared four wickets among themselves while three batters were run out.

Only four Batters could score double-figure runs for Lahore Qalandars including Abdullah Shafique 15 (14), Rashid Khan 21 (20), Sikandar Raza 71 (34) not out while Shaheen Shah Afridi hit run a ball 16 runs.

Mirza Baig, Sam Billings and David Wiese scored 2 runs each, Fakhar Zaman 4 runs, Hussain Talat 6 runs while Haris Rauf and Zaman Khan could not score any runs.

Naseem Shah, Odean Smith and Umaid Asif claimed one wicket each for 29, 27 and 33 runs respectively while Mohammad Nawaz and Naveenul Haq bagged two wickets each for 19 and 36 runs respectively. Mohammad Hafeez conceded only three in the single over he bowled in the match.

With the fifth victory from six matches Lahore Qalnadars have consolidated their position as the table toppers while Gladiators languish at the bottom of the table with 2 points from six matches.