Quetta Gladiators have reached the Pakistan Super League (PSL) playoffs with a six-wicket win over Lahore Qalandars after Mohammad Wasim Jr. smashed a six on the final ball of the 28th match at Karachi’s National Bank Cricket Arena.
With Quetta winning, Karachi Kings are now out of the race of reaching the final four. Multan Sultans, Peshawar Zalmi, Islamabad United and Quetta Gladiators have qualified.
This is the first time since 2019 that Quetta have qualified for the final four. Jason Roy and Saud Shakeel initiated the chase with authority. Roy smashed three consecutive fours on the first three balls of Shaheen Afridi’s over. However, the Qalandars managed to control the Gladiators’ run flow thereafter. Jahandad Khan dismissed Jason Roy (18) in the final over of the powerplay.
Captain Rilee Rossouw also did not look in great touch, scoring only 13 off 11 balls before Jahandad also dismissed him.
Saud remained steady in an anchor role from one end, with Khawaja Nafay joining him from the other.
The run rate kept climbing up with Nafay not finding any flow in his innings. The 22-year-old managed 23-ball 26 before Shaheen trapped him in front for an LBW dismissal.
28 runs were required in the final two overs. Saud and Laurie Evans managed to hit a boundary each to keep 14 runs in the final over.
Shaheen bowled the final over and he dismissed Evans on the back of an impressive catch by Mirza Baig. Saud hit two fours on the third and fourth ball but only managed a single on the fifth.
Wasim Jr had different plans as he smashed with four runs required on the last ball, ending the game in style.
