Pakistan Super League: Lahore Qalandars did a Chennai Super Kings in the game against Quetta Gladiators

In the PSL match played between Quetta Gladiators (QD) and Lahore Qalandars (LQ) on 16 February 2016, the Gladiators won the game after a well-fought thrilling contest. Qalandars who were batting first, recorded the first ever 200+ total in PSL only to be chased down later in the day.

It was the only second instance when 200 plus runs were chased down in a T20 game in UAE with the other one discussed below. Interestingly, QD is on the top of the table while Lahore at the bottom; yet in both of their matches, Lahore have recorded 190+ totals batting against Gladiators.

Even more interestingly, Gladiators had no score in the top nine totals of PSL 2016 before this game, and surprisingly enough, they have lost just two games thus far.

The match reminds many of an IPL game played between Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab in UAE in its 2014 season. The two games had many similarities which have been placed below for the readers.

Host Country – UAE was the host country in both games.

200+ chased down – In both games, 200 plus target was put on the board to be chased down, which was achieved in the end. In the IPL game, KXIP shot down 206 runs in 2nd innings while in the recent match Gladiators won the game by chasing 202 runs.

A West Indian left-handed Opener – The team batting first on both occasions had a West Indian Opener. In that match, Dwayne Smith opened the innings while in this one, Chris Gayle came to bat on number 1.

Both openers scored fifties in the first Innings – Last Night, Chris Gayle and Azhar Ali came as openers and both scored 50s. In that game, Smith and McCullum struck half-centuries as openers.

Both openers dismissed in the 60s in the first innings – The openers in the first innings of both games were dismissed in 60s, which have been discussed in point 4.

Non-Striking opener scored one more than the other – The opener who did not face the first ball in both matches scored one run more than the one who faced it. In last game, Chris Gayle faced the first ball and scored 60 runs while Azhar Ali made 61. In IPL match, Smith made 66 while McCullum who was on non-striker’s end on the first ball made 67 runs.

Batting-first team captained by ODI captain – In both matches, the team batting first was captained by the ODI Captain of the respective countries. CSK in that match was under the leadership of MS Dhoni while Azhar Ali, Pakistan’s ODI skipper, was leading Lahore Qalandars last night.

Total boundaries struck by both openers (18) – Chris Gayle and Azhar Ali, each smashed the ball 9 times out of the boundary, which makes the total boundaries struck by them 18. In the IPL match, Smith and McCullum, also each 9 times, sent the ball out of ground 18 times.

Non-Striking opener faced exactly 45 balls in the first innings – Azhar Ali was the non-striking opener in the PSL game and he faced 45 balls in his innings, which are exactly equal to the balls faced by McCullum who was also non-striking opener in the IPL game between KXIP and CSK.

No-balls in the first innings – Both matches had exactly 1 no-ball in the first innings.

Opening partnership of more than hundred in first innings and less than 35 in second Innings – The opening partnership also had some similarities. In the first innings of both matches, openers made more than 100 runs and played more than 10 overs; while in the 2nd innings, they made less than 35 runs in both games and it was broken in the 3rd over of the innings.

Fifty off 37 Balls for an opener – One of the openers in the first innings of both matches scored fifty off exactly 37 balls. Dwayne Smith made fifty off 37 balls in that match while Azhar Ali in this game reached fifty off exactly same number of balls.

The main bowler was brutally attacked – The main attack bowler in the first innings of both games bowled full quota, did not get a single wicket and gave away more than 45 runs. Mitchell Johnson bowling for Kings XI gave away 47 runs while Anwar Ali went for 57 runs.

Match-winner gave away wicketless 11 rpo in bowling spell – Muhammad Nabi won the crucial moments in this match when he made the required 15 off last over. When bowling in the first innings, he gave away 34 runs in 3 overs without getting a wicket at 11.33 rpo. Maxwell won that game for Kings XI Punjab when he came to bat. However, while he was bowling, he went for 23 in 2 overs without a wicket at 11.50 rpo.

Powerplays went for 134 and 138 runs – In both the games, power plays saw a torrent of boundaries and runs. In the IPL game, 134 runs were scored off 12 overs of powerplays at 11.16 rpo, with CSK scoring 70-0 and KXI 64-3. In the PSL game, 138 runs were scored at 11.5 rpo with LQ making 61-0 and QD 77-1.

A bowler in 2nd innings concedes 3-0-37-0 – In both games, a bowler introduced in the 7th over of 2nd innings went for 37 runs in 3 overs without taking a wicket. In IPL, it was Pawan Negi who came to bowl the 7th over, while in the PSL match, it was Cameron Delport, who went for the same number of runs in same number of overs as Pawan Negi did. Interestingly, he was also introduced in the 7th over of the second innings

Both the MoM made fifty under 25 balls – Maxwell was awarded MoM in that game who made a fantastic match winning 95. He reached his fifty off 25 balls, while in this game, Bismillah Khan, man of the match, reached his fifty in 23 balls.