Martin Guptill heroics set up Quetta Gladiators for first win of season

Shoaib Malik and Irfan Khan led Karachi's counter attack after a poor start to their reply, but Quetta held on for an important victory

Nick Friend | 18/02/2023 at 18:29

Karachi: Quetta Gladiators 168-7, Karachi Kings 162-5 - Quetta Gladiators win by six runs

Karachi Kings' winless start to the Pakistan Super League campaign continued as Martin Guptill rewound the clock to smash a match-winning hundred for Quetta Gladiators.

Guptill, the New Zealand opener, has been woefully short on runs in recent times and averaged just 15 through 11 games for Melbourne Renegades.

But in a game where four of the six batters in the two teams' top three fell without scoring, Guptill hit five sixes and 12 fours before falling to the final ball of the innings for 112.

He was at the non-striker's end as Imad Wasim dismissed both Jason Roy and Abdul Wahid Bangalzai for ducks in a double-wicket maiden to begin the match, and he also watched on as Umar Akmal and Sarfraz Ahmed departed cheaply to leave Quetta 23 for 4 in the seventh over.

But somehow Gladiators rallied, mainly through Guptill, with Iftikhar Ahmed providing a useful foil in a 69-run partnership to set up an assault at the death, in which Andrew Tye conceded 55 runs in his four-over allocation. In all, 76 runs came in the last five overs of the innings.

malik180202

^{Shoaib Malik ended unbeaten on 71 (Asif Hassan/AFP via Getty Images)}

Quetta carried that momentum into the second half of proceedings, with Sharjeel Khan and Haider Ali both dismissed without scoring by the spin of Qais Ahmad and Mohammad Nawaz.

When Naseem Shah castled James Vince in the fifth over, Karachi looked in trouble, even more so when Mohammad Hasnain knocked over Matthew Wade to leave Kings 70 for 4. He sent Wasim on his way in the same over, which ought to have finished the game as a contest.

But veteran Shoaib Malik (71*) and Irfan Khan (37*), less than half his partner's age at 20, combined for an 86-run stand, featuring three sixes for Khan and eight fours for Malik.

Despite their best efforts, they fell six runs short to give Quetta their first win of the season.