Kings’ forgettable season came to an end as Quetta finished with a win though they are unlikely to progress
Quetta Gladiators 166 for 4 (Roy 82, Gregory 1-22, Wasim 1-27) beat Karachi Kings 143 for 8 (Clarke 52, Azam 36, Shahzad 4-22) by 23 runs
The first match of Sunday’s double-header in the PSL in Lahore was an odd one; neither the winning team nor the losing one would have been happy at the end of it. Quetta Gladiators needed to win their final match of the league stage by a huge margin in order to keep their hopes of qualification alive, mathematically. Kings, who held the upper hand for most parts, skittled away a strong start with the bat to go down by 23 runs.
Roy soon brought up his third half-century in the season but then fell in the final over, holing out to Mir Hamza. Thanks to Roy and Iftikhar Ahmed, Gladiators collected 41 off the last four overs to post 166.
Player-of-the-Match Shahzad, first got through Azam’s defense before castling Sharjeel Khan, who hit 16 off just seven balls. Clarke then completed his first fifty of the season before missing an attempted heave off Mohammad Irfan to be bowled.
Kings never recovered from those setbacks as Gladiators tightened the noose to shut the game. Shahzad’s blows ensured a winning end to Gladiators’ campaign, even though they are likely to be knocked out.
S Sudarshanan is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo