Quetta Gladiators 174 for 8 (Shamyl 54, Nawaz 53, Meredith 3-38, Theekshana 2-24) beat Hyderabad Kingsmen 134 for 8 (Irfan 33, Abrar 3-23, Daniyal 2-13) by 40 runs
Fifties from Shamyl Hussain and Hasan Nawaz, and a consolidated performance from the bowlers delivered a comfortable win for Quetta Gladiators, their first of the season, against Hyderabad Kingsmen. Defending 175 on pitch where 215 and 172 were chased on the previous day was always going to be a tough task, but Gladiators did it while exposing the fragility of Kingsmen's batting.
Gladiators required early breakthroughs and Alzarri Joseph's mean bouncer had Saim Ayub caught behind in the opening over. Though that over cost 17 as two leading edges off Marnus Labuschagne's bat, Abrar Ahmed removed Maaz Sadaqat and Usman Khan in the second and sixth overs to leave Kingsmen reeling at 37 for 3 at the end of the powerplay.
Kingsmen were never in control of the chase and Gladiators continued to chip away. Hassan Khan's quickfire 31 may have instilled hope in their dressing room but it didn't last long as he fell in the 15th over.
Gladiators, themselves, had not had a comfortable start to their innings after their captain Saud Shakeel elected to bat as they lost two quick wickets. But, a poised stand of 89 from 64 balls between youngsters Shamyl and Nawaz resurrected the innings. Shamyl, playing his only second PSL match, scored as many half-centuries, but had to rein in his attacking instincts after the wickets of Shakeel and Rilee Rossouw inside four overs.
His partnership with Nawaz was built on old-fashioned batting as the pair rotated the strike and picked the right balls to hit boundaries. Tom Curran's late cameo (18-ball 31) took Gladiators beyond the 170-run mark. That looked improbable after Shamyl and Nawaz were dismissed and Gladiators lost four wickets in the space 14 balls. Maheesh Theekshana, making his PSL debut, dismissed Khawaja Nafay and Ben McDermott on consecutive balls.
Kingsmen have now suffered defeats in both their games of the season, but what will concern their camp more was their unforced errors in the field. They dropped four catches in the first match against Lahore Qalandars, and bowled five no-balls, three of them by spinners, today against Gladiators.
