Quetta Gladiators beat Qalandars by six wickets in a last-ball drama in Pakistan Super League (PSL) season nine at the National Bank Stadium in Karachi.Karachi Kings are out of the final four after Gladiators won. Multan Sultans, Peshawar Zalmi, Islamabad United, and Quetta Gladiators qualified for playoffs. This is Gladiators’ first final four appearance since 2019.
Gladiators beat Qalandars in last-ball thriller
Jason Roy and Saud Shakeel led the chase. Shaheen Afridi’s over began with Roy hitting three fours in three balls. After then, the Qalandars controlled Gladiators’ run flow. Jahandad Khan rejected Jason Roy (18) in the last powerplay over.
Also struggling, captain Rilee Rossouw scored 13 off 11 balls before Jahandad removed him. Saud played an anchor role, while Khawaja Nafay joined him.
The run pace kept rising as Nafay struggled to find his groove. Shaheen trapped the 22-year-old in front for an LBW dismissal after 23 balls 26. Final two overs needed 28 runs. Saud and Laurie Evans each struck a boundary to keep 14 runs in the penultimate over.
Mirza Baig played a great catch to remove Evans in Shaheen’s final over. Saud hit two fours on the third and fourth balls but just a single on the fifth. Wasim Jr. ended the game in style by smashing four runs on the penultimate ball.
Shaheen and Abdullah Shafique produced fast half-centuries to help Lahore Qalandars reach 166/4 after batting first. The reigning champions started cautiously as in-form opener Sahibzada Farhan and Tahir Baig shared 38 runs before Abrar Ahmed dismissed both in the sixth over.
Farhan smashed four boundaries in 22 deliveries, while Baig made a scratchy 12 off 13. Abdullah then partnered with Shai Hope, who scored five off seven deliveries before leaving in the 10th over with 69 runs. Shaheen teamed up with Abdullah to make Lahore Qalandars powerful.
Their combination produced 91 runs off 57 deliveries until Mohammad Amir dismissed Shaheen in the last over. The Qalandars captain scored a 34-ball 55 with two boundaries and four sixes.
Abdullah scored an unbeaten 59 for the Qalandars. His 39-ball innings included three boundaries and two sixes. Amir and Mohammad Wasim Jr. grabbed one wicket each for the Gladiators, while Abrar Ahmed took two.
