Fakhar, Billings guide Qalandars to big win

By our correspondent
RAWALPINDI: Fakhar Zaman and Sam Billings hit rapid fifties while bowlers also did extremely well as Lahore Qalandars notched their first win from two games when they crushed Quetta Gladiators by 79 runs in their second round fixture of the HBL PSL X at the Pindi Stadium in Rawalpindi on Sunday night.
Fakhar shrugged off his rustiness with the bat and struck a 39-ball 67 while Sam Billings hit a rapid 19-ball 50 not out to help Lahore Qalandars to post a huge total of 219-6 in the allotted 20 overs.
Spinners Rishad Hossain (3-31 in 4 overs), Sikandar Raza (2-12 in 3 overs), Asif Afridi (2-20 in 2.2 overs) and experienced pacer Shaheen Afridi (2-6 in 2 overs) then bowled splendidly to dismiss Gladiators for only 140 in the 17th over.
Set to chase a tough target Quetta Gladiators had a pathetic start as they lost their first three wickets for just nine on the board. Shaheen Afridi got rid of Saud Shakeel (1) in his first over, held by Fakhar Zaman at mid-on. Left-arm spinner Asif Afridi in the next over removed Hasan Nawaz (1) before Shaheen in his next over sent in-form Finn Allen (0) back to put a lot of pressure on Gladiators. Kusal Mendis and Rilee Roussouw at this stage were able to recover somewhat by sharing 45 runs for the fourth wicket partnership before the Sri Lankan was removed by Haris Rauf with the review confirming a big spike which went to keeper behind the stumps.
Mendis hit two sixes and three fours in his rapid 14-ball 28 with Gladiators struggling at 54-4 in the fifth over.
After Kusal’s departure Rilee Roussouw, who was joined by Shoaib Malik, managed a few big hits but was bowled by Bangladeshi spinner Rishad Hossain after the left-handed South African went for a big hit and missed it completely. Roussouw hit four sixes and the same number of fours in his 19-ball fiery 44 with Gladiators reeling at 98-5 in the ninth over.
Gladiators kept losing wickets with Sikandar Raza getting rid of Shoaib Malik (14) and Akeal Hosein (13) in one over. And Rishad Hossain then had Mohammad Amir (1) and Abrar Ahmed (6) in one over before Asif Afridi clean bowled the last man Faheem Ashraf for an 18-ball 21 to fold Gladiators innings. Faheem hit three fours and one six.
After being put into bat first by Saud Shakeel Qalandars lost Mohammad Naeem (10) early when he was bowled by Abrar Ahmed, the mystery spinner. Naeem, who has been termed as a bright prospect by his skipper Shaheen Afridi, failed again, hitting two fours from seven balls.
However at this stage Fakhar and Abdullah Shafique (37) batted well. Their placement was terrific. They shared 56 runs off 32 balls for the second wicket stand. Spinner Akeal Hosein broke the stand by holding Shafique off his own bowling. Shafique smashed six fours and a six in his 21-ball fine knock. He also hit left-armer Mohammad Amir for three successive fours in the fourth over of the innings and then hammered Faheem Ashraf for a six and two fours in one over which yielded 17 runs.
Daryl Mitchell then joined Fakhar and both batted fluently, adding 80 off 47 balls for the third wicket association to boost Qalandars chances of posting a huge total on the board.
Abrar got rid of Daryll Mitchell, stumped by Kusal Mendis. Mitchell, who survived a confident review when on six, smacked four fours and a straight six off Faheem Ashraf.
When Mitchell departed Qalandars were 153-3 in the 15th over.
In the next over Akeal Hosein had Fakhar, held in the deep by Faheem. Ashraf. Fakhar brought in his 20th PSL fifty off 30 balls and struck seven fours and three huge sixes in his 39 balls stay at the crease.
And then came in Sam Billings who turned the things completely within no time in Qalandars way through his lusty hitting. Billings hit 50 not out off just 19 balls, smashing four fours and four big sixes to take Qalandars to a very good total. Qalandars scored 60-1 in the powerplay and then brought in 66 in the last five overs.
Akeal Hosein (2-40 in 4 overs) and Abrar (2-33 in 4 overs) bowled extremely well. Saud Shakeel also opened bowling through Akeal who was brought in place of Kyle Jamieson.
Off-spinner Usman Tariq (1-31 in 4) was the other success story. He checked the batsmen quite intelligently with his tricky action. Faheem Ashraf remained the most expensive bowler who conceded 49 runs in three overs and also took a wicket. Shoaib Malik once again bowled just one over and conceded 16 runs. Amir leaked 46 runs in four overs. He was hit by Sam Billings for a massive six and two fours in the 19th over of the innings which yielded 18 runs.