Lahore Qalandars 148 (Race 71*) time Quetta Gladiators 131 of 7 (Rauf 3-22) for 17 runs
The gladiators were seemingly cruising when they got to 53 for 1, with Yasir Khan falling to Rauf from the last ball of the power play. Will Smeed had hit six crisp fours from 32 from 25 balls to help put his side ahead at the requested rate, but after he fell lbw to Rashid in the seventh over, Gladiators began a slow-motion collapse that saw them add 11 runs in five overs while losing three wickets.
It got worse for Gladiators when Martin Guptill bowled David Wiese down the deep midwicket throat, with the required rate crossing 10 over. Odean Smith and Mohammad Nawaz were dismissed by Rauf as the home side took control, conceding just five caps in the second half of the innings and securing victory with an over to spare.
The Qalandars’ attempts to disrupt the flow involved sending the captain, Shaheen Shah Afridi, out in No. 6; he had never hit higher than No. 8 in a T20 before. It was partial (and relative) success, as he outscored the rest of the top six with 16 for 16, before running off for a non-existent single in the ninth over. With Abdullah Shafique and Wiese falling to Nawaz on either side of Shaheen’s dismissal, Qalandars was down seven at the half.
But Raza struck his sixth ball, from Nawaz, for six, added another on Umaid’s next, hit Naveen for three fours in five balls and took a couple of caps off Naseem Shah as the recovery partnership passed 50. Even with Race. efforts, Qalandars failed to bat the full 20 overs from him, but it turned out that the league leaders had more than enough for a fifth win in six.
