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Express Tribune
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Express Tribune
Quetta face Lahore in HBL PSLX final
Both Lahore Qalandars and Quetta Gladiators have contrasting histories but enter the final on a roll. Photo: PCB After entertaining month of cricket action, now we have come down to the final showdown between the Lahore Qalandars and the Quetta Gladiators on Sunday at the Gaddafi Stadium. Brisk half-centuries from Mohammad Naeem and Kusal Perera, followed by a collective bowling effort, led Lahore Qalandars to a thumping 95-run victory over Islamabad United in the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) 10 Eliminator 2 on Friday. The defeat marked the end of United's title defence, while two-time champions Qalandars march forward and will take on leaders Quetta Gladiators in the highly-anticipated PSL 10 final, scheduled to be played at the same venue on Sunday. Because when the league was suspended a fortnight earlier, Qalandars were arguably the hardest hit by absences from what remained of the season. Sam Billings, Daryl Mitchell and David Wiese did not return. Sikandar Raza came back, but only for a game - a knockout against Peshawar Zalmi. Haris Rauf and Zaman Khan, two mainstays of Qalandars' back-to-back titles, were both off colour and extremely expensive. Qalandars plugged those gaps by bringing in two Sri Lankans - Kusal Perera and Bhanuka Rajapaksa - who hadn't played T20 cricket in three and four months respectively; they combined for 83 off 48 against United on Friday. Salman Mirza, the 31-year old fast bowler who made his first-class debut in the giddy heights of the Logan Cup in Zimbabwe 18 months earlier, has sparkled, taking seven wickets in three games. Mohammad Naeem looked like a player shoehorned into the side for the sake of further promoting the Qalandars player development programme, but is now a mainstay of the top order alongside Fakhar Zaman and Abdullah Shafique. But if Quetta Gladiators appear a sideshow in the final, it's because they've spent much of the last six weeks clinically stripping any jeopardy from their position. They last lost a match on April 18, and have produced seven wins in their last seven completed matches. Most importantly, Finn Allen and Rilee Rossouw have returned, and another pair of Sri Lankans — Avishka Fernando and Dinesh Chandimal — made handy contributions in the qualifier that took them to the final on Wednesday. More ominously, though, Gladiators' trusty local bowling core stacks up against any across the league this season. Mohammad Amir has been near that wicked, wily best that has made him such an asset to any T20 franchise; no fast bowler with more wickets as an economy rate as low as his 7.41. Abrar Ahmed is joint-second on the wickets charts with an economy even superior to Amir's, while one of the men who joins him on 16 wickets is his fellow allrounder Faheem Ashraf. Gladiators' journey is almost the mirror opposite of Qalandars', having made three of the first four finals while Qalandars spent each of those seasons propping up the table. But though that victory in 2019 suggested the heralding of a dynasty, it was followed by a nosedive as the franchise lost its way, meandering meaninglessly through the next five seasons and missing out on the playoffs in four of them. This year, they have meticulously worked to remove weaknesses from their side, while Qalandars appear to have done a phenomenally good job of papering over theirs.
United News of India
30-04-2025
- Sport
- United News of India
Zimbabwe debutant Masekesa reveals inspiration behind his Test debut
Chattogram, Apr 30 (UNI) Zimbabwe debutant Vincent Masekesa has revealed the inspiration he has received from fellow spinning greats that has helped his rise to the top. Masekesa won his Test debut during the ongoing second Test between Zimbabwe and Bangladesh and the 28-year-old has already made a strong impression by picking up three wickets on the second day of play here. It's been a long time coming for Masekesa, who only made his first-class debut at the start of 2021 and finally won a first Test cap on the back of taking plenty of wickets for Mountaineers in Zimbabwe's domestic Logan Cup competition. Masekesa was the leading wicket-taker in the Logan Cup last season with 43 scalps and his efforts obviously caught the eye of Zimbabwe selectors as the leg-spinner earned a first Test cap against Bangladesh. Unsurprisingly, Masekesa nominated champion spinner Shane Warne as someone he admires and also singled out a host of current day tweakers that are still at the top of their game, an ICC report said. "I am always a big fan of leg-spinners. Shane Warne obviously and most of the Zimbabwe leg-spinners and growing up Graeme Cremer was there," Masekesa said. "I also look up to Adil Rashid from England, (Yuzvendra) Chahal from India...(Adam) Zampa from Australia. Even Rishad (Hossain) from Bangladesh," he said. Masekesa didn't take long to make an impression with the ball on debut as he picked up Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto for his first Test scalp and then added a further two wickets later in the day as Zimbabwe fought hard in the series finale. "Honestly, I wasn't expecting that first wicket at that exact moment but it meant a lot. Representing Zimbabwe in Test cricket is a big opportunity, and I was really happy," Masekesa said. A century to Shadman Islam helped Bangladesh obtain a first innings lead by stumps on the second day of the Test, but Masekesa believes his team is still well in contention of fighting back and picking up the win to complete a series sweep. "They're playing well, no doubt. But we're still very much in this game. We'll fight hard to keep things under control tomorrow," he added. UNI BM
