Jason Roy's heroics helped Quetta Gladiators thump Lahore Qalandars by 7 wickets in the 15th match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) season seven on Monday.
On the back of Roy's 57-ball 116, Quetta hunted down the target of 205 in 19.3 overs with 7 wickets in hand to become the only PSL franchise to overhaul a 200+ target thrice.
Batting first, Lahore made a smooth start to their innings with openers, Fakhar Zaman and Abdullah Shafique, scoring runs freely. Shafique (32) fell after the powerplay, but Fakhar continued to pile up runs.
The run rate slowed down in the middle with three quick wickets of Kamran Ghulam (19), Mohammad Hafeez (8), and Phil Salt (8).
However, Zaman (78), David Wiese (22), and Harry Brook (41 off 17) launched the onslaught in the final overs to take the total to 204/5.
In response, Roy provided much-needed firepower up front, banging every Lahore bowler out of the park. Quetta brought up their first 50 in just 3.2 overs, with Roy scoring 46 of them. He went on to smash a 49-ball hundred to bring down the asking rate, besides providing a platform for the middle-order to tee off in the latter part of the innings.
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The right-handed batter departed in the 16th over, but Mohammad Nawaz (25 off 12) made sure he completed the job. James Vince remained not out of 49 of 38.
Points Table Update
With this win, Quetta Gladiators have obtained two valuable points, taking their total to four. They have now jumped one place to settle at fourth. Multan Sultans who have 10 points from five consecutive wins are still at the top.
Meanwhile, Islamabad United are placed second with 6 points, and Lahore Qalandars third with as many points.
Peshawar Zalmi have now gone down to the fifth place with four points, while Karachi Kings are reeling at the bottom of the table with five losses on the trot.
Next fixtures
There is a rare two-day gap in the PSL 7 as the tournament moves to Lahore for its second and final leg. The reigning champions Multan Sultans will take on Peshawar Zalmi when the action resumes on February 10 at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium.
Past PSL Winners
PSL 2016 – Islamabad United
PSL 2017 – Peshawar Zalmi
PSL 2018 – Islamabad United
PSL 2019 – Quetta Gladiators
PSL 2020 – Karachi Kings
PSL 2021 – Multan Sultans