The Quetta Gladiators is a franchise cricket team that represents Quetta in the Pakistan Super League. They are one of the five teams that had a competition in the 2016 Pakistan Super League. The team was captained by Sarfraz Ahmed, and they stand on second position after winning four matches from their eight matches in the PSL 2016. They finished runners-up after losing the final against Islamabad United. Ahmed Shehzad with 290 runs from 10 matches was the team's leading run scorer while Mohammad Nawaz with 13 wickets from 10 matches was the leading wicket taker for the team. They won runners-up prize money of US$200,000.
Quetta Gladiators is a franchise cricket team representing Quetta, which plays in the PSL. In 2015, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced that the inaugural season of the Pakistan Super League would take place in February 2016 in the United Arab Emirates.[1] Team is owned by Omar Associate a (Karachi based Company), which bought it for US$11 Million for 10 years.[2] It finished second in the inaugural season of PSL in the 2016.[3]
Squad
Players with international caps before the start of the season are listed in bold .[4]
Grant Elliott was exceptional with the ball by taking 11 wickets in 6 matches
The Gladiators started their campaign with comfortable wins over Islamabad United and Karachi Kings before edging past Peshawar Zalmi in a closely fought match that went down to the last over.[6][7][8] However, the team's campaign suffered a setback in the match against Lahore Qalandars where they were comprehensively beaten by 63 runs as the Gladiator's imploded in the second highest run chase of the tournament (195 runs) after (202 runs) was imploded on Gladiator's by Qalandars again.[9]
In the second leg of the tournament, beginning in Sharjah, the Gladiators started off their campaign with a big win over Islamabad United. New Zealand all-rounder, Grant Elliott who had just joined the team proved instrumental in the win as he took 3 key wickets to restrict United to 117. The Gladiators chased down the target with almost four overs to spare. The win also took the team to the top of the table.[10] In the following game against Karachi Kings, the Gladiators were once again comfortable in their win - beating their opponents by 6 wickets. This victory also ensured that Quetta Gladiators were the first team to go through to the qualifying finals.[11] On their next outing, against Peshawar Zalmi, the Gladiators were comprehensively beaten by 8 wickets. However, despite being reduced to 66-9 by an overwhelming spell by Shahid Afridi, the team managed to get to 129. This was made possible by a world record last wicket stand of 63 between Grant Elliott and Zulfiqar Babar.[12] In their last match of the league stage, the Gladiators chased down the highest target of the tournament thus far (202) against Lahore Qalandars. Bismillah Khan, who was playing his debut innings in PSL and scored 55 from 30 and Mohammad Nabi whose 30 from 12 finished the game on the last ball of the match, were pivotal in the victory.[13] Gladiators were placed 2nd on the league table behind Peshawar Zalmi after winning 6 of their 8 matches and qualifying for the play-offs.[14]
The first qualifier of the inaugural Pakistan Super League was a nail-biting affair and came down to the last ball, with Quetta Gladiators holding their nerve to clinch one run win. Gladiators posted 133 thanks to Kevin Pietersen (53) well supported by Kumar Sangakkara (37) after disastrous start, in reply Peshawar Zalmi scoring 132 in their 20 Overs Darren Sammy's 38 from 29 could not save the team.[15] Zalmi were left needing eight runs from six balls;Gladiators required three wickets. A dot off the first ball of the over, bowled by Aizaz Cheema, titled the contest further Quetta's way. However, Wahab Riaz seemed to emerge an unlikely hero for Zalmi, slamming the second ball - a low full toss outside off - over cow corner for four. He then proceeded to take a single. Three needed off three, and it was anybody's game. Cheema, though, drastically turned the fate of the match with his next two deliveries. First Hasan Ali was out caught and bowled. Then, Wahab swung wildly in an attempt to finish the game, but ended up skying the ball straight to Ahmed Shehzad at point. Cheema was on a hat-trick and Muhammad Asghar had the unenviable task of striking the last ball for at least three. Cheema did not get his hat-trick, but more importantly, Asghar was unable to put the bowler's rising short ball away as a result Aizaz Cheema become hero for Gladiators and qualified for the Final.Gladiator's Mohammad Nawaz for his 3 for 27 and 20 runs was judged man of the match (third time in PSL) took them through to final.[16] Gladiators finished runners-up in the inaugural HBL Pakistan Super League after they lost against Islamabad United in the final by six wickets. Misbah sent Gladiators to bat first, riding on the back of half-tons by Ahmed Shehzad (64) and Kumar Sangakkara (55), they scored 174-7 in their 20 overs. Andre Russell who finished the tournament as leading wicket-taker took 3 for 37 from 4 Overs. In reply Gladiators Started really badly as from United's Dwayne Smith (73) and Brad Haddin unbeaten 61 gelled to put up an 85 run partnership under pressure for the second wicket to help their team past the finishing line in 19th Over of the game. Ahmed Shehzad was the Leading run scorer with 290 from 10 matches while Mohammad Nawaz with 13 wickets from 10 matches was the leading wicket taker for the team. They won runners-up US$200,000 prize money.[17][18]
The 2016 Pakistan Super League (or for sponsorship reasons HBL PSL 2016) was the debut season of the Pakistan Super League which was established by the Pakistan Cricket Board. The tournament featured five teams and was held from 4 February 2016 to 23 February 2016 in the United Arab Emirates.[19] The opening ceremony and first match of the tournament were held at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on 4 February 2016.[20]
The player draft for the 2016 season was held at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on 21–22 December 2015. 308 players, including both Pakistani and international players, were divided into five different categories. Each franchise was allowed to pick a maximum of six foreign players in their squads which could have a maximum of 20 members.
Seven umpires and two match referees made up the match officials panel for the tournament. Pakistan's top ICC umpire Aleem Dar stood in matches during the tournament as did West Indian ICC umpire Joel Wilson. Also a part of the panel were other Pakistani umpires Ahsan Raza, Shozab Raza, Ahmed Shahab, Rashid Riaz and Khalid Mahmood. The match referees panel consisted of former Sri Lankan ICC match referee Roshan Mahanama and Pakistani match referee Mohammad Anees.[28]
Each team played each other twice in the league stage of the tournament in a round robin format. As matches were played in the UAE, all games were effectively at a neutral venue. Following the group stage the top four teams qualified for the playoff stage of the tournament.
The 2016 season of the PSL followed rules and regulations laid down by the International Cricket Council. In the group stage, two points were awarded for a win, one for a no result and none for a loss. In the event of tied scores after both teams faced their quota of overs, a super over would have been used to determine the match winner.[32] In the group stage teams were ranked on the following criteria:[33]
Higher number of points
If equal, higher number of wins
If equal, fewest defeats
If still equal, the results of head-to-head meetings
If any play-off match had finished with a no result, a super over would have been used to determine the winner. If the super over had not have been possible or the result of the over was a tie, the team which finished in the highest league position at the end of the regular season would have been deemed the winner of the match.
Islamabad United won the toss and elected to field.
Shoaib Malik stepped down from captaincy of Karachi Kings a day before this match and Ravi Bopara was named his successor for the remainder of PSL 2016.[37]
Islamabad United won the toss and elected to field.
Islamabad United won the first edition of PSL as the result of this match.[40]
Awards and statistics
The player of the tournament was Ravi Bopara of the Karachi Kings. Bopara scored 329 runs and took 11 wickets in the tournament. Andre Russell of Islamabad United took 16 wickets at an average of 17.25 to be the leading wicket-taker ahead of Wahab Riaz of Peshawar Zalmi with 15. Umar Akmal of Lahore Qalandars was the leading run scorer with 335 runs at an average of 83.75 and also took the most catches in the tournament with 7. Winners of the Spirit of Cricket award was Lahore Qalandars.[41]
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