Quetta Gladiators did not get off to a good start in the eighth season of the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The title-winning team suffered a shock at the start, losing the first match against Multan Sultan by a huge margin of 9 wickets. However, despite losing the first match, the cricketers of the team did not break down mentally. Rather, Quetta implemented the message of coming back stronger. Picked up PSL’s first win against Karachi.
Quetta faces Karachi Kings at National Stadium, Karachi on Saturday. Karachi won the toss and decided to bowl first. Their decision seems correct in the beginning. With Quetta’s top order collapsing, Karachi was in the driver’s seat of the match. But from there, opener Martin Guptill and Iftikhar Ahmed, who came in to bat in the middle order, pulled the team.
Batting first in the match, Quetta collected 176 runs. Chasing that target, Karachi left the field with a loss of 6 runs. And after this victory, the captain of Quetta, Sarfraz Ahmed, praised his teammates. In the press conference, he said, “We believed that we can return to the winning streak. The boys played well. Despite the adverse conditions of the match, everyone handled the tough pressure and snatched the victory.”
Sarfraz added, “Our bowlers have to be praised separately. Especially in the last three overs, they bowled controlled. It is usually difficult to bowl in the second innings on such a wicket. In that case, this win will change the image of the team. Guptill also batted well earlier. We hope, he will have such good performances with the bat throughout the tournament.”
It should be noted that Guptill played an important role in the first victory of Quetta. He scored an impeccable century at the time of the team’s disaster. This right-handed batsman played innings of 117 runs off 67 balls. The man of the match award also went to Guptill, who played an important role in the win. This devastating batsman also got praise from the captain for this.