DUBAI: Quetta Gladiators in nail-biting contest on Wednesday defeated Multan Sultans by two wickets after Hasan Khan sent the ball flying out of the ground.
Earlier in the first innings, Multan Sultan managed to score 152 runs with a fiery unbeaten knock by skipper Shoaib Malik (65 runs off 43 balls) in the death overs.
Gladiators openers, Shane Watson and Asad Shafiq, gave a flying opening to the team, the Sarfraz-led team suffered its first loss with the wicket of Watson (26) by fast bowler Umar Gul.
Two overs later Gul also took the wicket of Shafiq (20).
In an attempt to play a reverse-sweep top-order batsman Kevin Pieterson threw away his wicket on the ball of skipper Malik.
Ramiz Raja Junior played a brief cameo of 22 runs before falling prey to a flipper by leg-spinner Imran Tahir.
The most interesting bit was the controversial catches accepted and discarded in the match, where the umpires turned down catch appeal against Rossouw, they gave OUT on a controversial catch carried by Shan Masood.
First innings
The match commenced with the wicket of Kumar Sangakkara on the very first ball of the innings by Muhammad Nawaz. Golden duck for the Sri Lankan legend.
The next to be dismissed was Ahmed Shehzad on the next over of fast bowler Anwar Ali (1).
The next to return to the pavilion was all-rounder Sohail Tanveer, his flashy cameo of 19 runs off 15 balls ended by a full inswinging delivery which hit into the stumps.
In-form batsman Sohaib Maqsood (27) was dismissed by PSL debutant Ben Laughlin on 12.4 overs. The fast bowler took an lbw wicket. The batsman scored two boundaries and one six.
The entry of skipper Malik turned the tables for Sultans; with four boundaries and three sixes in the late overs, the ‘Men in Green’ extended the total to 152.
