KARACHI: The maiden fifer by young pacer Naseem Shah in Pakistan Super League (PSL) helped Quetta Gladiators to beat Karachi Kings by eight wickets in seventh edition of the league.

Openers Will Smeed and Ahsan Ali, scored 76 runs together to let Gladiators easily chase the target.

Earlier, Naseem helped his team bowl out Kings for 113 runs in fourth match at National Stadium Saturday.

Gladiators opted to bowl first after winning the toss. Kings’ batting lineup collapsed. Skipper Babar Azam scored 32 runs off 29 balls including four boundaries. He saw his batters collapsing in a hurry.

Aamer Yamin (20) and Imad Wasim (26) somehow rescued Kings in middle overs as they scored some handy runs for their team. Imad struck two boundaries and a six whereas Aamer smashed two maximums and a boundary.Apart from Naseem, Sohail Tanvir bagged two wickets while Mohammad Husnain, Mohammad Nawaz and James Faulkner shared a wicket apiece.

Set to chase 114, Ahsan scored his second 50 in a row whereas Smeed scored 30 runs to start off things strongly for Gladiators. Ahsan remained not out for 5 laced with eight boundaries.

Skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed scored handy 16 runs including three boundaries to complete the chase for the winning side.

Mohammad Imran was the lone wicket taker for Kings.

In the first match of the day, 50s from Mohammad Rizwan and Shan Masood helped Multan Sultans to chase down the highest successful chase in PSL history of 207 runs, against Lahore Qalandars. Sultans made 207 followed by some late power-hitting from Khushdil Shah.

Earlier, Qalandars had made 206 for 5, on the back of a rapid half-century from their opener Fakhar Zaman.

He shared an 89-run opening stand with Abdullah Shafique, before being dismissed for a 35-ball 76 in the 12th over. Kamran Ghulam (43 off 31) kept the score ticking up, before Wiese and Rashid chipped in with handy blows down the order to push the total past 200.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022