By a Special correspondent
Quetta Gladiators took little time in beating a lackluster Lahore Qalandars by nine wickets in the double header day, with Shane Watson, Mohammad Nawaz and Jofra Archer as their stars at Dubai stadium on Saturday
Nawaz finished with 2-4 in his four accurate overs to record the most economical overs of the league’s history while Archer took 3-22 to leave Lahore’s innings at 119-9 in their 20 overs after Quetta captain Sarfraz Ahmed won the toss and elected to field.
Quetta achieved the below par target in just xxx overs for the loss of xxx wickets to record their first win in two games after losing to Karachi Kings by 19 runs on Friday. Lahore were left to rue their poor start as they followed their abysmal loss to Multan Sultans in the first game.
Shane Watson knocked a brilliant 42-ball 66 with five sixes and as many boundaries to set the platform while Asad Shafiq’s 36-ball 38 with three sixes sealed the match in just 14 overs.
Watson took full revenge from Sunil Narine by smashing two fours and sixes in the West Indian spinner.
Lahore raced off to 46 in just 3.3 overs with pinch hitter Sunil Narine smashed two sixes and three boundaries off Watson during his 10-ball 28 while Brendon McCulum scored 18-ball 30 but once Narine fell, Lahore lost nine wickts for just 59 runs.
Lahore made some unwise decisions by dropping Fakhar Zaman to number three and held hard hitter Umar Akmal to six and Sohail Akhtar to eighth and that halted their progress. Gulraiz Sadaf preferred over Umar made a snail paced 31-ball 13.
Umar Akmal was one of Nawaz’s two victims, leg before for just one. The Pakistani spinner ahd earlier dismissed McCullum.
At the fag end Sohail tried his valianet best to lift the total during his 26-ball 20 but it was not enough.
Islamabad United will face Multan Sultans in the first match while Karachi will take on title holders Peshawar Zalmi in a double header on Sunday.