QG vs LQ

That brings us to the end our coverage for this PSL contest. Like always, it was a pleasure bringing all the live coverage from this encounter. IPL and PSL carnival continues tomorrow. Join us then and many more sporting action but for now this is myself (Arya Sekhar Chakraborty) signing off also on behalf of my fellow commentator and good mate Lavil Saldanha. 

Shaheen Afridi (Lahore Qalandars captain): Credit goes to the boys. The first game is always tough as you have to manage things quickly. The way Fakhar and Saim batted, credit goes to them. Lahore Qalandars always loves to fly, a lot of players were trying to bowl a bit differently as we hadn't played too much cricket at home. Our effort was always that we needed a wicket taker when we picked Rishad. Asif Afridi was always going to bowl with the new ball. The expectations is sky high from Sam Billings with so many ramp shots.

Fakhar Zaman is the Player of the Match, here is what he had to say: When you are playing after a long time and it's a tough competition, it gets difficult. The wicket didn't allow me to play the way I wanted. The way Abdullah Shafique batted and the way Sam Billings finished, my innings got the mention. Our strength has always been our bowling. I felt we would win this comfortably. It's important for the openers to give a good start in T20 cricket, I don't want to take credit for this win. I feel the three spinners they have, they are three of the best in the competition. They were throwing the ball away from me and I tried to play over the off side.

Saud Shakeel (captain, Quetta Gladiators): I believe that we couldn't select a better team; we were a pacer short today. Credit to their batters; the way Fakhar bhai and Mitchell played was well. We will be looking to improvise in the games to come. We all know Shaheen is a strike bowler, and we tried not to lose our wickets to him. We made a few mistakes, and when you do so, it is tough to come back in the game. Hopefully we will reduce the mistakes in the coming games. Pindi always favours the batters, this was like a proper Pindi wicket

11:38 PM local time (12:38 PM IST): Lahore Qalandars won by 78 runs

Fakhar Zaman 67(39) | Shaheen Afridi 2/6(2)
Rilee Rossouw 44(19) | Abrar Ahmed 2/33(4)


The Lahore Qalandars having lost their opening game against the Islamabad United have made a stunning comeback in the second game, winning the game against the Quetta Gladiators by 78 runs. The target of 219 was always going to be a tall order for the Quetta Gladiators as they needed a good start. 

However Shaheen Afridi and Asif Afridi put them in doldrums, reducing them to 9/3. A quickfire stand between Kusal Mendis and Rilee Rossouw brought them back in the game but it was Haris Rauf who made the big breakthrough and there was no way back for them from there onwards. 

Mendis was dismissed for a 14 ball 28 but Rossouw kept continuing the carnage. He played some astonishing shots en route to 44 before another attempted big shot against Rishad Hossain saw them trudge back the pavilion. 

It turned out to be the game changer as wickets kept tumbling on a consistent basis. Sikandar Raza and Rishad Hossain then joined hands to reduce them to 114/9. Faheem Ashraf who was forced to come in late struck some lusty blows before getting castled by Asif Afridi with 22 deliveries to spare.

11:35 PM local time (12:05 AM IST): It has been a throughly convincing performence from the Lahore Qalandars as they have beaten the Quetta Gladiators by a massive margin of 78 runs. The target of 220 proved a bit too much. Quetta kept losing wickets on a consistent basis and there was no way back for them. This win will give them a massive confidence going forward. 

16.2 Asif Afridi to Faheem Ashraf, BOWLED! QALANDARS WIN! Full and on the line of the off stump, Asif managed to sneak that one under Faheem's bat. The southpaw misses that one horribly and loses his off-stump. That's the end of the chase as Lahore Qalandars win the match by 79 runs!

15.6 Haris Rauf to Faheem Ashraf, back of a length delivery on the middle and leg stump. Faheem knocks it towards square leg for a single to end the over

15.5 Haris Rauf to Faheem Ashraf, FOUR! Full and on the line of the off stump, Faheem clips it towards deepo midwicket and the ball goes racing away in the gap for a boundary

15.1 Haris Rauf to Usman Tariq, FOUR! Full and outside the off stump, Tariq hangs his bat out to dry and it takes the leading edge past slip and down to deep third for a boundary

This over might not make any eventual outcome of the game but Faheem Ashraf still showing some good hitting qualities and will look to take the game deep which might be beneficial as par as net run rate is concerned.