Quetta can’t defend, Sarfaraz Ahmed left pondering with his frustrations at the end

Nobody wouldn’t want to be a Sarfaraz Ahmed at the end of a Pakistan Super League (PSL) game of  Quetta Gladiators this season. Frustrated, almost crying through his sullen eyes and hands on his hips with lips refusing to utter any word. This has been Sarfaraz, the captain of the Gladiators for the last two matches as his bowlers have been unable to defend huge totals set up by the batsmen. 

The case was the same today as Dale Steyn was tonked for 21 runs in the penultimate over when the Gladiators needed to defend 27 from two overs. What rubbed salt to injury was the fact that during that over, he was hit for two sixes by a batsman of the stature of Wahab Riaz and one of the sixes went out of the stadium. 

Left to defend just six runs, Mohammad Hasnain bowled a pitch-perfect yorker to remove Wahab Riaz off the very first ball. Then bowling a length ball, he was able to get Saqib Mahmood run out but couldn’t stop Sherfane Rutherford from crossing over and reaching the striker’s end, a mistake that Sarfaraz also complained of during the post-match interview. Now tasked to defend six from four balls, Hasnain bowled a delivery that he wouldn’t have bowled in the worst of his nightmares, a beamer, outside off, so much outside that it was far from the reach of a helpless Sarfaraz and added to Zalmi scorecard, five extra runs, killing the game then and there. Zalmi chased down 199 and won the match by three wickets.

Before all that mayhem in the last two overs, Zalmi were set an uphill task of chasing 199. It would become the fourth highest chase ever in the history of the PSL if the Peshawar team could reach there successfully. Imam-Ul-Haq and Kamran Akmal started the innings cautiously. But it couldn't go on for long as Akmal was trapped in a plan perfectly executed by Usman Shinwari, where he bowled just outside off, short of a length and forced Kamaran to hoik it towards wide third-man where Ben Cutting, coming in from deep point gobbled a simple catch. Soon Tom-Kohler Cadmore was removed by Steyn to push Zalmi on the backfoot. But instead of getting into a shell, Haider Ali and Imam counter attacked. The two added 52 in 32 balls before pressure mounted to Imam and he played the wrong line to google from Zahid Mahmood. 

Joined by experienced Shoaib Malik, Haider continued on his counter-attacking strategy and was readily helped by Quetta Fielders with their misfield. He even offered a sitter to Mohammad Nawaz at the point but was given an extra life. Just when it seemed that Malik and Ali would run away with the game, Steyn provided the much-needed breakthrough removing Ali just as he crossed the 50 mark. In the very next over, Ben Cutting removed Shoaib Malik to tilt the game in Quetta’ favour. 

However, the purple patch didn’t last long for the team in purple. Defending 50 from the last four, Shinwari bowled a good over giving just 9 runs and leaving 41 to defend in the last three. But Hasnain was hit for two sixes as he conceded 14 runs in the 18th over to leave 27 to defended by Steyn and himself in the last two overs. And the rest of the story is as plain and simple as it gets. 

Apart from Malik (34), Haider Ali (50), Rutherford and Wahab Riaz scored important 36* and 20 respectively to add on to Imam’s 41 and take the Zalmi home. For Gladiators, Steyn took two wickets. 

Earlier in the evening, Sarfaraz’s men were asked to bat after Quetta lost the toss. While the start wasn’t ideal as Cameron Delport departed early. However, young Saim Ayub and experienced Faf du Plessis laid the foundation for skipper Sarfaraz and Azam Khan to launch the attack. They did exactly that, adding 105 runs in just 52 balls. Hadn’t it been for a brilliant last over by Zalmi’  Mahmood, who gave away just five runs and took three wickets, Quetta could have easily gone above 200. 

Even after scoring a brilliant 40 ball 81, Sarfaraz ended up on the losing side at the National Stadium in Karachi once again. He and the management would now have to devise a plan that could get them over the line somehow as, after eight matches, they are the only team in the league without a point on the board. This was also the eighth consecutive match where a team batting first haven’t been able to defend a total in PSL.