Vusumuzi Dube
Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWEAN all-rounder, Sikandar Raza put up a special Player of the Match performance to help his side, Lahore Qalanders register a 17 runs win over Quetta Gladiators yesterday in the Pakistan Super League.
Raza, coming in to bat at number seven with his team struggling on 47/6 showed his prowess once again as he scored an unbeaten 71 runs off 34 balls to guide the Qalandars to a total of 148 all out in 19.2 overs before they went to restrict their opponents to 131/7 in 20 overs to maintain top spot in the league standings.
The Zimbabwean stalwart’s brilliant innings consisted of eight fours and three sixes, striking at 208.82 percent. Batting down the order, Raza was supported by Rashid Khan who made 21 runs off 20 deliveries and the skipper, Shaheen Shah Afridi who scored 16 runs in as many balls.
In the defence, the Qalandars got their first wicket with the Gladiators on 53 runs in 5.6 overs and however, managed to restrict their scoring to make it two consecutive victories for the Lahore based defending champions. Raza bowled one over and did not take any wickets, giving away just six runs. Haris Rauf took three scalps while Khan and David Wiese had two and one respectively.
Yesterday’s win took the Qalandars two points clear of Andy Flower’s Multan Sultans at the top of the table. The former is on 10 points while the latter is on eight. The two teams will go up against each other tomorrow in what promises to be an interesting encounter in Lahore.
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