CricViz analyst Kieran Parmley looks at the latest events in the PSL.
Quetta Quicks Dominate Powerplay
Both sides would’ve been looking at the Quetta Gladiators bowling against Lahore Qalandars batting as a key Powerplay matchup coming into this match. Gladiators were the leading Powerplay wicket takers in the PSL with eight wickets across their four games so far whereas Lahore Qalandars have been excellent at preserving early wickets, losing just 2 wickets and scoring at 10.54rpo, only Islamabad United have scored quicker.
It was debutant Luke Wood who was given the new ball alongside Naseem Shah and the two combined to limit Lahore Qalandars to just 27-0 after four overs. 33% of the duo’s deliveries clocked above 140kph compared to just 1% of the deliveries faced by Lahore Qalandars inside the opening 4 overs of their previous four games. The increased speed and hitting length and back of a length with 54% of deliveries inflicted 21% false shots from the Qalandars openers – their most inside the opening four overs of an innings this season.
Brook, Wiese Punish Gladiators at the Death
Following a steady Middle Overs rebuild from Fakhar Zaman at one end and a flurry of wickets at the other, Lahore Qalandars found themselves at 126/4 after 15 overs and well set to put a par-ish score on the board – that was until Harry Brook and David Wiese came to the crease. The right-handed duo combined to help Qalandars score 78-1 in the final 5 overs of the innings, the second highest score at the death Over phase of PSL 7, capitalising on some rather one dimensional death bowling from Quetta Gladiators. Of the 24 balls bowled by pace bowlers at the death, 18 of them were full – such predictability, as well as the range of shots from two tall batters enabled them to pile on 41 runs from those deliveries. Qalandars were given an 81% chance of winning the match at the halfway phase by WinViz, rising from 63% before the death overs.
Roy Guides Quetta Home
With 204 runs on the board and the likes of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Rashid Khan and Haris Rauf in their bowling ranks, it would take something special to beat Lahore Qalandars – that something special was Jason Roy. Roy registered the first ever Pakistan Super League century by an Englishman with his innings of 116 off 57 balls, today’s innings was also the highest of his career in terms of Batting Impact with +43.
Jason Roy started his innings as he meant to go on, taking 15 runs from the opening over bowled by Shaheen Shah Afridi. He continued to dominate throughout the Powerplay, bringing up his 50 after just 3.4 overs of the innings, the fifth quickest in T20 history. If there was one man who could stop Jason Roy, it was Rashid Khan, and yet Roy didn’t slow down when the Afghan leg spinner was brought on to bowl in the Powerplay – instead Roy scored 22 from the 13 balls faced against the world’s premiere spinner today. Despite cycling through six bowlers Roy couldn’t be stopped, the opener scored at least one six against all six bowlers – a complete takedown of one of the best bowling attacks in the competition.
As well as his onslaught against Rashid Khan, Roy did what he did best against pace bowling, smacking about the quicks regardless of length – scoring at above 160 against all lengths in his innings. Everything Lahore Qalandars threw at him, he threw back even harder, Quetta Gladiators will be hoping this isn’t the end of Roy’s one man heroics in PSL 7.
