Quetta Gladiators, on 19th February, emerged victorious against Lahore Qalandars, winning their second game on the trot. Khawaja Nafay grabbed the headlines after playing a match-winning knock, helping his side chase down 188 against the defending champions.
Lahore Qalandars’ start to the tournament went from bad to worse after Khawaja Nafay starred at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, handing the home side its second consecutive loss of the tournament.
On that note, let us look at 3 key points that helped Quetta Gladiators win against Lahore Qalandars:
(1)Getting an early breakthrough and having an economical powerplay
Fakhar Zaman is one man who has, season after season, won games on his own in the PSL. Once he gets his eye in, he is unstoppable and clears the boundary at will.
This makes it so much more important for opposing teams to get him early. On the day, it was Akeal Hosein who got the better of Fakhar Zaman in the third over of the game.
The left-arm spinner from the West Indies bowled a couple of tidy overs in the powerplay, and mixed it up really well, keeping things tight.
He was supported well by the experienced Mohammad Amir, who conceded just 14 in the two overs that he bowled in that phase.
The bowlers kept things tight, and allowed Lahore Qalandars to score only 43 in the first six overs, which is not an extraordinary powerplay score going by the standards of modern-day T20 cricket.
(2)Excellent death bowling to contain Lahore Qalandars to 187
Even after a fairly slow start, Lahore Qalandars had some massive overs where Jahandad Khan decided to go after the bowlers.
At the end of 14 overs, Lahore Qalandars were 107-4, and in the next 4 overs, they displayed top-notch acceleration to add 66 runs to their total.
With the momentum on their side, Lahore Qalandars were expected to touch the 200-run mark. But, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Wasim Jr. put up a commendable show.
It was a masterclass in death bowling, as the pair conceded only 14 runs off the last two overs.
Mohammad Amir showed his class, going for 5 runs in the penultimate over. The duo bowled quite a few wide yorkers, and mixed them up with slower bouncers outside off and yorkers aimed at the stumps.
They kept the ball away from the batsmen’s arc and proved to be too good for the Lahore Qalandars batters.
The brilliant execution by these two may well have been the turning point of the game, because one could say that it was the difference between a 188 and 205 target.
(3)Breakthrough performance from the 2022-born Khawaja Nafay
Chasing anything under 200 has always been very achievable in the PSL, but for a 22-year old playing just his second innings ever in the league to score an unbeaten 60 while chasing 188 is something commendable.
Khawaja Nafay came in to bat at number 3 after Saud Shakeel was dismissed in the 7th over. The openers had laid the platform for Quetta Gladiators, but they needed someone to step up and guide them to victory, and Khawaja Nafay did exactly that.
He showed great composure and finished the job for his side. He took the attack to the likes of Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf, and looked at utmost ease in the process.
After Rilee Rossouw was dismissed in the 11th over, things could have gotten a bit tricky with 87 runs still needed to win the game. However, Khawaja Nafay ensured that the flow of runs did not dry up.
He consistently tried to get a boundary or two each over, and when he could not, he ensured that he rotated strike. In the process, he became the first batter ever to play just one dot in a PSL innings where the batter faced more than 25 deliveries, and there have been a total of 823 PSL innings of this sort, proving how incredible this feat is.
With 3 sixes and 4 fours in his knock, Khawaja Nafay displayed immense promise, and the fact that the youngster finished the job for his team is proof that a star is born in Pakistan.