Istafa Ali
In Monday’s fourth match of Pakistan Super League (PSL) season nine, Quetta Gladiators defeated Lahore Qalandars by five wickets.
The 22-year-old batsman Khawaja Nafay helped Quetta win the second straight game, albeit it was Lahore’s second consecutive defeat. Khawaja Nafay struck an unbeaten sixty-eight against a target of 188.
Earlier, captain Shaheen Afridi elected to bat first, and Sahibzada Farhan’s anchoring fifty and Jahandad Khan’s blazing blow helped propel the reigning champions to 187/7.
With the score at nine runs after Akeal Hosein removed Fakhar Zaman (6) on the opening ball of the third over, the hosts suffered an early blow to their batting innings.
After the Quetta Gladiators defeated the Lahore Qalandars by five wickets, Raisie van der Dussen teamed up with Farhan to start the recovery process.
Van der Dussen’s tenacious 15-run innings came to an end when Abrar Ahmed dismissed him in the ninth over, capping a steady 53-run partnership between the two.
After that, Farhan and Abdullah Shafique struck up a one-sided partnership that let him score his second consecutive PSL 9 half-century.
He reached a 43-ball 62 after smashing six boundaries and three sixes, but he was eventually removed in the 13th over, bowled out by Mohammad Hasnain.
Two balls later, Hosein returned to dismiss Shafique (11), caught behind, giving the Gladiators another breakthrough, and Qalandars another blow.
But Jahandad Khan took control of the Qalandars’ batting campaign and made a spectacular knock that included four sixes and three boundaries, three of which came against Abrar in the 16th over.
Against just 17 deliveries, he hit an undefeated 45 to carry his bat through.
Along with Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, 12, and Sikandar Raza, 18, also made brief but impactful debuts at the funeral.
For the Gladiators, Hasnain and Hosein both got two wickets, while Abrar, Mohammad Amir, and Muhammad Wasim Jr. each claimed one wicket.
