Nawaz stars for Gladiators in last-ball thriller against Sultans

Quetta Gladiators beat Multan Sultans, quite literally, by the length of a fingertip. With two required off the final delivery, Hasan Nawaz, who finished with an unbeaten 67 off 38, dug out an attempted Mohammad Hasnain yorker, getting enough bottom hand power to ensure it sneaked over the top of a leaping long-on, who only got a fingertip to it, unable to prevent it sailing over for six. It took Gladiators to 190, past the 186 they needed to guarantee they finish top of the table, while the Sultans slumped to their ninth defeat in ten matches.

After inserting Gladiators in to bat on a scorching afternoon in Rawalpindi, Sultans removed the captain Mohammad Rizwan off his second delivery, Faheem Ashraf swinging one back in to clean up his stumps. Yasir Khan led the charge in the early overs, initially targeting Khurram Shahzad before signing off the powerplay by flaying spinner Abrar Ahmed for 18 runs.

But Usman Tariq, back playing after being reported, and then clearing, a bowling action test, dismissed Jehanzaib Sultan and Yasir in successive overs as the scoring rate levelled off. It was left to cameos by Tayyab Tahir and Shahid Aziz to wrestle some momentum back for the Sultans. They would score 37 off the final three overs to finish off with 185, just on the fringes of what might have been par.

Gladiators started imperiously as Khawaja Nafay dominated the powerplay, with his captain Saud Shakeel happy to sit back. By the end of the first six, Nafay had 40 off his side's 60 runs, including four fours and three sixes. A six off Peter Hatz0glou in the seventh over indicated Nafay would not let phases of play dictate the intensity of his belligerence, but just after he reached a 25-ball half-century, Aziz hit the stumps when Nafay miscued a heave.

Hasnain followed it up to conclude a turgid Shakeel innings. When he was bowled in a freak dismissal as the ball cannoned into an extension of his pad before striking his leg stump, he had accumulated 18, taking 24 balls to do so. Dinesh Chandimal tried to get things going by targeting Hasnain's following over, plundering 14 from the first three balls, only for Ubaid Shah's extra pace and bounce to create a simple catching opportunity that Tahir pouched.

Hatzoglou struck once more to send Danish Aziz back as the wickets began to pile up, and the asking rate sneaked past 10. In Faheem and Nawaz, Gladiators had two devastating lower-order hitters, but they were also the side's final bulwark against defeat. They would put together 36 off 20 balls to bring the asking rate back to nine, but the moment Aziz struck the third time to neutralise Faheem, victory would only come via a lone effort from Nawaz.

There were opportunities for Sultans to kill the game off, but sloppiness in the field cost them once more, including a rare catching opportunity Rizwan couldn't quite get to in the final over as they tried to defend 11. Two balls later, Nawaz had slapped Hasnain into the sightscreen to bring the equation down to three off 2. A brilliant throw in the deep effected a run-out, but Nawaz found a way to be on strike for the final delivery. He would brilliantly find a way to get enough on it for victory, as Sultans were finally put out of their misery.