belted down the ground to finish the game. What a stunning strike. This is Quetta's largest win in terms of wickets.
Qalandars vs Gladiators, 5th Match at Dubai, Feb 24 2018 - Ball by Ball Commentary
Gladiators won by 9 wickets (with 36 balls remaining)
That's that from all of us. Hope to see you tomorrow. Until then, it's goodbye from the commentary desk. Cheers and have a good night.
Mohammad Nawaz is the Player of the Match for his outstanding spell of 4-1-4-2. "Brendon McCullum was batting well, so when I came onto bowl, my only aim was to not give him any room," he says. "Line and length was important, had to be accurate. After we picked two wickets, I was aggressive, I wasn't afraid to flight the ball and there was some turn on offer. I aimed to be the best bowler and win matches for my team this season."
Brendon McCullum: We were well in front but passed up another opportunity. Have to look hard at ourselves. I was disappointed with the energy on the field, not acceptable when you're representing a proud place like Lahore. There's no shame in losing but we have to give our 100 percent every time. There's still a long way to go though.
Sarfraz Ahmed: The start was poor but the way we came back was incredible. It's hard to bowl spin against the kind of batsmen they have, but I have a good understanding with KP. He helped as well, the way Nawaz came back here was superb, no praise is enough for him. The intent Watson showed was superb, as a team we got a lot of confidence out of this game."
Asad Shafiq: No praise is enough for our bowlers because they set up the game, then Watson was sensational. Archer is a good fast bowler, his slower variations are good and he's an excellent choice. Hope we benefit from his presence in the team. These conditions aren't the easiest for bowlers, but they set it up for us. We had time, and the way Watson approached the chase was outstanding. Credit to the management and Sarfraz.
Quite a hiding that for Lahore Qalandars for the second time in two nights. Lots of soul-searching to do. Quetta have made a small chase look ridiculously easy. Sometimes, such chases can be tricky but they came out with just one agenda: look to score quickly, attack the bowling and look to elevate their net-run-rate. In the end, they've literally sauntered home. Asad Shafiq, who you normally don't associate with big hitting in T20s, has done his credentials and confidence no harm by remaining unbeaten. Watson, who had a poor outing with the bat yesterday, has more than made up with a scintillating half-century.
big turn, plays outside the line to get an inside edge that rolls back towards the pad
right to the pitch of the ball as he blisters this through the cover boundary. Picked the bones out of that
gets outside the line of the stumps and turns this straighter one towards square leg
hint of width and he steers this past short third man, excellent running
turns this gently into the leg side for a quick single
rocks back to cut but this slides back in to hit the top part of the bat, straight to the fielder
clobbered across the line and against the turn, clears long-on very easily
square turn, but he's right behind the line in defence
this is clean hitting out of the top drawer. Down on one knee as he opens up the leg side and sweeps over the backward square leg boundary
this is a slider that he cuts to point, there's a mix-up, the striker is halfway down the pitch when he is sent back, but Shaheen Afridi didn't stop the ball cleanly
right forward and behind the line as he defends
Daniyal: "85 for 0, yet Shaheen Afridi hared in for that over, as if it was his team that was on top. That's what you want from a young fast-bowler: talent backed with the right kind of attitude."
driven cleanly and firmly to sweeper cover
rocks back and whips towards the man coming in from deep square, off the mark immediately
there's the breakthrough. Watson shapes to cut but fails to account for the turn back in as this beats the inside edge to crash into the stumps. Didn't pick the turn, this spun sharply as well.
right to the pitch of the ball as he eases this down to long-off
turns this gently towards square leg as they jog the single
touch short outside off, punched to cover
prods outside the line to get a thick inside edge towards square leg
drifting into middle and leg, tickled towards fine leg
Over 14 • QG 120/1
Gladiators won by 9 wickets (with 36 balls remaining)