Umar Akmal stroked the highest score of this season’s Pakistan Super League, his 40-ball 93 guiding Lahore Qalandars to their first win of the season, against Quetta Gladiators in Dubai. The 63-run defeat was Quetta’s first of the tournament, after they had set the early pace with three consecutive wins.
Not many could have seen Akmal’s blast coming when Lahore crawled to 62 for 1 in 10 overs, losing their opener and captain Azhar Ali in a rather sedate start. However, Cameron Delport provided the initial acceleration to the innings, after which Akmal took off. The pair added 95 runs from just seven overs, with Delport smoking a 55-ball 73, an innings that featured eight fours and three sixes.
Zulfiqar Babar eventually trapped Delport lbw when the batsman attempted an extravagant reverse flick, but any hopes Quetta had of drying up the runs were quickly dashed by Akmal, who treated himself to six fours and eight sixes, including 18 runs off the penultimate over, bowled by Umar Gul. Akmal failed to reach his maiden T20 ton, but the ferocity of his blast meant that Lahore had compiled 194 for 3, and Quetta needed to score at nearly 10 an over right from the off.
However, Quetta failed to gather any momentum in their chase, as wickets at regular intervals kept pegging them back. Mohammad Nawaz (42) and Sarfraz Ahmed (31) offered a brief resistance, putting up 74 runs for the fourth wicket, but once Sarfraz was dismissed in the 13th over, Quetta duly folded for 131. Zafar Gohar was the pick of the bowlers, collecting 4 for 14, while Ajantha Mendis chipped in with 3 for 17, helping Lahore bundle their opponents out inside 17 overs.
