Wright stars in Quetta’s comfortable win over Islamabad in PSL opener

DUBAI: England’s Twenty20 specialist Luke Wright scored a breezy unbeaten 86 to help his side Quetta Gladiators to record the first victory of the inaugural Pakistan Super League (PSL) against Islamabad United by 8 wickets here at the Dubai International Stadium in the early hours of Friday.

Chasing down a mediocre target of 129, Wright showed no respect to any of Islamabad’s bowlers hitting 4 sixes and 10 fours in his innings. Mohammad Nawaz, who took four wickets in restricting Islamabad to 128 for 7, also remained not out on run a ball 22.

Gladiators achieved their target with full four overs in hand.

Earlier, Islamabad United skipper Misbah-ul-Haq and Andre Russell tried to resurrect the disappointing innings after they were reduced to 63 for 6 in the 15th over.

Misbah however trapped by a slow bouncer by Anwar Ali in the penultimate over after scoring 41 in 28 balls. Russell remained not out on 35 off 20 balls.

Rookie bowler Nawaz took four wickets for only 13 runs in his quota of 4 overs. Anwar Ali, Zulfiqar Babar and Umar Gul shared a wicket each for the Gladiators.

 

Quetta Gladiator captain Sarfraz Ahmed had won the toss and invited Islamabad United skipper Misbah-ul-Haq to bat first earlier in the evening.

The two sides had a strong domestic contingent. As many as eight players from the set-up have played for Pakistan.

Speaking at the toss Sarfraz said, “There is the dew factor, batting will be easier later. We want to field. Wright, KP, Chigumbura, Nabi are our overseas players”.

Misbah on the occasion said: “It is all about posting a good total. We have four seamers. Shane Watson is batting well. He scored a hundred against India. It is a good balance. The opening ceremony was really wonderful”.

Teams

Quetta Gladiators: Sarfraz Ahmed (c), KP Pietersen, LJ Wright, E Chigumbura, Ahmed Shehzad, Anwar Ali, Umar Gul, Zulfiqar Babar,Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Nabi, Akbar-ur-Rehman

Islamabad United: Shane Watson, Sharjeel Khan, Umar Amin, Babar Azam, SW Billings, Misbah-ul-Haq (c), AD Russell, S Badree, Mohammad Irfan, Rumman Raees

The match is followed by an impressive show of light, colour and music in which renowned Pakistani and international superstars including Ali Zafar, Sean Paul, Mohib Mirza and Sanam Saeed performed.

Also read: Inaugural edition of PSL kicks off with impressive show

There are five franchises partaking in the cricket league named after each provincial capital and the federal capital of Pakistan. The Karachi Kings, Lahore Qalandars, Peshawar Zalmi, Quetta Gladiators and Islamabad United will compete with each other to lift the trophy.

The top two teams will play the first qualifier, while the loser of the 1st qualifier and winner of the 2nd playoff will meet in playoff. Winners of play off 1 and 3 will meet in the final. There will be a total of twenty-four matches (day/night) in the tournament. Fifteen Matches, including all three play offs and final will be played at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

The other nine fixtures will take place at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.