PSL 2016: Mohammad Nabi steers Quetta to beat Lahore by two wickets

The Afghan national scored 30 from 12 deliveries in a nail-biting victory

Quetta Gladiators defeated Lahore Qalandars by two wickets in the 18th match of the inaugural Pakistan Super League (PSL) at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Azhar Ali’s side put up a target of 202 for Quetta to chase after the end of first innings.

The skipper scored 61 from 45 deliveries for Lahore, with Chris Gayle and Umar Akmal scoring 60 and 55 (not out) respectively.

Grant Elliot and Zulfiqar Babar claimed one wicket apiece for Quetta.

In response, Quetta chased the target on the last delivery, largely due to debut performance by Bismillah Khan, who scored 55 from 30 deliveries. Kevin Pietersen and Kumar Sangakkara scored 34 and 37 respectively, whereas Mohammad Nabi finished the game for Quetta with 30 from just 12 deliveries.

Ehsan Adil claimed four wickets for Lahore, with Bravo getting three wickets and Cooper getting one wicket.

Man of the match award went to Bismillah Khan for his debut batting performance.



QUE 203-8 (20 overs)

FOUR! Nabi plays a bad ball and steers Quetta to victory with a boundary.



SIX! A towering six by Nabi.



FOUR! Nabi finds the long-on boundary.



Zohaib Khan to bowl the last over.



QUE 187-8 (19 overs)

OUT! Anwar Ali gets caught at long-on. Zulfiqar Babar replaces him.



FOUR! Outside edge and Nabi finds the third man boundary.



SIX! A special shot from Nabi as he goes over extra cover boundary.



Bravo.



QUE 175-7 (18 overs)

OUT! It is his fourth wicket as Rizwan makes no mistake. Nawaz departs. Mohammad Nabi is the new batsman.



Ehsan Adil.



QUE 171-6 (17 overs)

CAUGHT? It is being reviewed by the third umpire. And the third umpire has given it OUT. Elliott departs. Mohammad Nawaz replaces him.



Cooper.



QUE 163-5 (16 overs)

OUT! BOWLED! Sangakkara goes. Ehsan Adil has struck here for Lahore. Grant Elliott replaces him.



OUT! BOWLED! Poor choice of shot by Sarfraz and he walks back to the dug out. Anwar Ali replaces him.



FOUR! Sarfraz smashes it towards leg-side boundary.



Ehsan Adil back in the attack.



QUE 157-3 (15 overs)

Six from the over.

Bravo.



QUE 151-3 (14 overs)

FOUR! Sangakkara lobs it down the ground.



FOUR! A calculated shot by Sangakkara.



Delport.



QUE 137-3 (13 overs)

FOUR! A flick by the veteran Sri Lankan. Pure class.



Cooper.



QUE 127-3 (12 overs)

FOUR! Sangakkara smashes it towards leg-side.



FOUR! Sarfraz finds the boundary between long-on and midwicket.



Zohaib Khan.



QUE 113-3 (11 overs)

Six from the over.

Cameron Delport.



QUE 107-3 (10 overs)

Five from the over.

Zohaib Khan.



QUE 102-3 (9 overs)

OUT! Bismillah goes as well. Caught by the keeper. Sarfraz Ahmed replaces him.



OUT! Big wicket! KP gets caught at long-on boundary. Sangakkara replaces him.



Bravo.



QUE 98-1 (8 overs)

Four from the over.

Zohaib Khan.



QUE 94-1 (7 overs)

FOUR!x2 And Bismillah gets his half-century.



FOUR! That one goes past the point fielder. Bismillah gets another boundary.



Cameron Delport.



QUE 77-1 (6 overs)

Four from the over.

Cooper.



QUE 73-1 (5 overs)

FOUR! KP pulls it towards deep midwicket.



Dwayne Bravo.



QUE 64-1 (4 overs)

FOUR!x3 Bismillah is raining bombs here.



FOUR! Bismillah Khan exploits the leg-side as well.



Kevon Cooper.



QUE 48-1 (3 overs)

FOUR! Ehsan Adil went for twenty runs in five deliveries. Courtesy: Kevin Pietersen.



FOUR! KP is thrashing the opposition here. 4 in 4.



FOUR! Pietersen places it between long-on and midwicket boundary.

FOUR! Another one by KP.



FOUR! A flick by Pietersen and he's off the mark.



OUT! LBW! Ahmed Shehzad departs. Kevin Pietersen replaces him.



Ehsan Adil.



QUE 28-0 (2 overs)

FOUR! Cut shot by Bismillah.



FOUR! Bismillah beats mid-on fielder.



FOUR! Lofted this time by Bismillah.



SIX! Bismillah sweeps towards leg-side boundary.



Zafar Gohar.



QUE 10-0 (1 over)

FOUR! Pulled away by Shehzad towards midwicket.



FOUR! A flick by Bismillah towards leg-side boundary.



Ahmed Shehzad and Bismillah Khan to open for Quetta.

Ehsan Adil.



LHR 201-2 (20 overs)

FOUR! A wide full toss this time from Gul and Akmal places it towards cover.



FOUR! Outside edge by Bravo and it travels towards the third man boundary.



OUT! BOWLED! Bravo departs after facing the yorker from Gul. Oh wait its over the line and its a no-ball from Gul. Bravo is back.



Umar Gul to bowl the last over of the innings.



LHR 190-2 (19 overs)

SIX! Punched over point. Three sixes in a row for Akmal.



SIX! Another full toss and this time its a flat shot from Akmal.



SIX! Full toss and smashed by Akmal over midwicket.



Anwar Ali.



LHR 169-2 (18 overs)

FOUR! Bravo edges it and the ball travels towards the third man boundary.



Elliott.



LHR 161-2 (17 overs)

SIX! Akmal smashes it out of the park.



FOUR! Umar Akmal pulls it towards leg-side boundary.



FOUR! Bravo lobs it over the cover fielder's head.



Anwar Ali.



LHR 144-2 (16 overs)

OUT! Azhar Ali gets caught at the boundary. Dwayne Bravo replaces him.



Elliott.



LHR 141-1 (15 overs)

FOUR! Umar Akmal finds the boundary between long-on and midwicket.



FOUR! Umar Akmal plays a full toss.



FOUR! Through to extra covers this time. Azhar Ali playing a captain's innings.



Babar.



LHR 125-1 (14 overs)

Three from the over.

Nawaz.



LHR 122-1 (13 overs)

FOUR! Azhar places it towards cover boundary and gets his half-century.



Babar.



LHR 116-1 (12 overs)

Six from the over.

Mohammad Nawaz.



LHR 110-1 (11 overs)

OUT! Ahmed Shehzad takes the catch. Gayle departs. Umar Akmal replaces him.



SIX! Another massive shot by Gayle over midwicket.



Babar.



LHR 100-0 (10 overs)

FOUR! Reverse sweep by Azhar.



SIX! Azhar smashes over midwicket.



Nabi.



LHR 88-0 (9 overs)

Twelve from the over.

Elliott.



LHR 76-0 (8 overs)

FOUR! Sweeped by Azhar Ali. Its seems like Quetta isn't even trying anything on the field.

SIX! Another six this time from Azhar Ali over the midwicket boundary rope.

Nabi.



LHR 64-0 (7 overs)

Three from the over.

Grant Elliott.



LHR 61-0 (6 overs)

FOUR! A sweep shot by Azhar towards leg-side.



FOUR! Cut shot by Azhar Ali.



Mohammad Nabi.



LHR 51-0 (5 overs)

SIX! This time it has cleared the midwicket rope. Will Gayle make a century today?



SIX! A flick from Gayle and it has gone miles into the stands.

Zulfiqar Babar.



LHR 34-0 (4 overs)

SIX! Over midwicket rope this time. Gayle is on fire.



Umar Gul.



LHR 26-0 (3 overs)

SIX! Another one from Gayle over long-off.



SIX! Massive six from Gayle over long-off.



Anwar Ali.



LHR 13-0 (2 overs)

FOUR! Brilliant timing from Gayle. Simply placed it through the covers for a boundary.



Umar Gul.



LHR 6-0 (1 over)

FOUR! Gayle eases that one towards the fence at extra cover.



Chris Gayle and Azhar Ali to open the batting for Lahore Qalandars.

Anwar Ali to begin the bowling attack for Quetta Gladiators.



Toss: Quetta win the toss and elects to bowl first.

Azhar Ali: Its obviously a very important match for us. We will try to put as many runs as possible to build pressure on the opposition. The boys are pumped up for this match. Adnan Rasool is out and Naveed Yasin will replace him.

Sarfraz Ahmed: We will bowl first. This is an important match to build. We have three changes. Bismillah Khan, Anwar Ali and Kevin Pietersen are replacing Akbarur Rehman, Asad Shafiq and Elton Chigumbura. Pitch looks like a good one for batting, but we will try to restrict the opposition.

Gladiators Warming up #QuettaGladiators #ShanePakistan #PSL pic.twitter.com/otVBbta5dg

— Quetta Gladiators (@TeamQuetta) February 16, 2016

Match Day #HBLPSL #LQvQG @thePSLt20 @lahoreqalandars @TeamQuetta pic.twitter.com/IYqwlkO2RH

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) February 16, 2016

Match Day #HBLPSL #LQvQG @thePSLt20 @lahoreqalandars @TeamQuetta pic.twitter.com/3t9p27llo5

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) February 16, 2016