Lahore Qalandars 107 for 2 (de Villiers 47*, Haris 33*) beat Quetta Gladiators 106 (Ahsan 33, Lamichhane 4-10) by eight wickets
How the game played out
Sandeep Lamichhane's career-best T20 figures of 4 for 10 decimated first-place Quetta Gladiators' promising start in the Powerplay as Lahore Qalandars rode the Nepal legspinner's heroics to an eight-wicket win in Dubai. Lamichanne came to bowl in the fourth over and reduced Gladiators from 33 for no loss to 47 for four after just 15 balls, missing a fifth as Sarfaraz Ahmed barely survived his first ball.
Gladiators found it difficult to recover after Lamichhane's match-turning spell, eventually subsiding for 106 in 19.1 overs. Despite a modest start to their chase - both openers fell cheaply to end the Powerplay at 35 for two - Haris Sohail and AB de Villiers added an unbroken 74 for the third wicket as Qalandars coasted across the line with 21 balls to spare to win the rematch between the two sides after Gladiators' last-ball three-wicket win on Saturday in Sharjah.
Turning points
Lamichhane successfully convinced his captain Fakhar Zaman to review a not-out decision in the nick of time against Shane Watson four balls into the fourth over. Replays indicated the skiddy delivery struck Watson's pad fractionally before the bat as he went on to the back foot to cut and three red lights meant Watson was out lbw. It was the moment that sparked Lamichhane's haul.
Ahsan Ali was holding firm on 33 at the non-striker's end in the face of Lamichhane's spell, but Sarfaraz's dicey call for a two to long-on resulted in Ahsan being run-out by three yards, thanks to a sharp relay from David Wiese to Fakhar at the non-striker's end, making it 53 for five.
Lamichhane was at it in the field too, pulling off an outstanding catch on the run at deep midwicket to claim Sarfaraz's slog sweep off Yasir Shah for 29. Besides Sarfaraz and Ahsan, nobody else made more than 12 for Gladiators.
Star of the day
No-brainer this. After the sharp call for DRS to get Watson, Lamichhane got Rilee Rossouw to slice a drive to backward point for his second wicket. The best of the lot was his googly that bowled Umar Akmal through the gate. He capped his haul by stifling Danish Aziz with a series of googlies spinning away from the left-hand batsman before an attempted reverse sweep backfired, gloving a catch to slip.
The big miss
One of the few blemishes on the day for Qalandars came in the 18th over when Sohail Tanvir flicked Shaheen Afridi to deep midwicket but Sohail Akhtar spilt a straightforward chance. Afridi got his revenge, yorking Tanvir to start the 20th.
Where the teams stand
Gladiators now have two straight losses after winning four out of four to begin PSL 2019. But they remain in first place, two points ahead of Qalandars, Peshawar Zalmi and Islamabad United. Qalandars are officially fourth, having an inferior net run-rate to Zalmi and United with all three on six points.
