r The first game of the HBL PSL 2020, played the National Stadium Karachi, was a close contest between the defending champions Quetta Gladiators and the two-times champion team Islamabad United.
r r r r After winning the toss, Sarfaraz opted to bowl and the first ball of the tournament turned out to be its first wicket, as M. Nawaz caught Colin Munro off his first ball. The game became a see-saw between the two sides as despite losing wickets and getting all-out in 19.1 overs, Shadab-led Islamabad United managed to put up a target of 169 runs with the help of David Malan (64 runs off 40 balls) and a little cameo by Faheem Ashraf (20 runs off 8 balls), who also had the highest strike rate of 250. Quetta’s M. Hasnain bagged 4 wickets, while Cutting got 3, Sohail 2 and Nawaz got 1 batsman out.
r r r r Coincidentally, the Gladiators were also 1 wicket down without scoring any run. The 19-year old M. Musa gave a tough time to the Gladiators who bowled a maiden first over with a wicket, without letting Quetta score a single run in their first over. Quetta kept on losing wickets until Azam Khan came to their rescue. He was equally supported by Sarfaraz and Nawaz and ended up scoring a scintillating innings of 59 runs off 33 balls (5 fours and 3 sixes). Gladiators came close to winning a match, which at one point seemed far from their reach, courtesy Azam Khan.
r r r r After the dismissals of Azam Khan and M. Nawaz, Ben Cutting took the responsibility and finished the game in style, by hitting a six off Shadab Khan’s ball, with 9 balls to spare. M. Musa took 3 wickets, while Akif Javed, Faheem Ashraf and Ammad Butt got 1 each.
r r r r The winning team’s M. Hasnain is declared as the Man of the Match for his 4 wickets at 25 runs.
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