Twitter Reactions: Martin Guptill's century hands Karachi Kings their third consecutive defeat of ongoing season

The New Zealand veteran smashed 117 off 67 to help Quetta Gladiators score 168/7 while batting first.

By Sumeet Kavthale

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Quetta Gladiators
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Quetta Gladiators. (Photo Source: Twitter)

Quetta Gladiators registered their first win of the ongoing season as they defeated Karachi Kings in the sixth match of the Pakistan Super League 2023 on Saturday, February 18. The veteran New Zealand batter Martin Guptill smashed 117 off 67 to end his poor run of form as Gladiators scored 168/7 while batting first. The Karachi Kings batters struggled from the start and nevel looked settled during the chase. 

Both Gladiators and Kings entered this game without a win and were hungry for the same. Imad Wasim won the toss for Kings and elected to field first at the National Bank Cricket Arena. He proved his decision right by dismissing the in-form Jason Roy on the innings' second ball. He further applied pressure on Kings with Abdul Bangalzai's wicket on the fifth ball to give his team a sensational start.

Imad went on to pick his third wicket, from his first nine deliveries, as he bowled out Umar Akmar (4 runs off 4 balls) in the third over. Experienced pacer Aamer Yamin removed Quetta's captain Sarfaraz Ahmed in the seventh over and all of a sudden Quetta were struggling at 23/4 after 6.1 overs.

But opener Martin Guptill defended his wicket from one end and pulled off a match-defining 69-run stand with Iftikhar Ahmed for the fifth wicket to balance the game. Iftikhar scored 32 off 27 before getting caught out on Mohammad Amir's delivery in the 15th over.

But Guptill went on to smash yet another T20 century of his career. He top-scored with 117 off 67 with the help of 12 fours and five sixes as Gladiators managed to post a respectable total. Imad and Yamin took three wickets each while Amir bagged one for Kings.

Mohammad Nawaz gave Gladiators an excellent opening with Sharjeel Khan's wicket for a duck in the second over and Kings lost two more wickets in the powerplay overs. Naseem Shah bowled James Vince with a superb delivery while Qais Ahmad cleaned up Haider Ali for a duck. 

Veteran batting all-rounder Shoaib Malik continued his good form with a fifty but Matthew Wade and Imad Wasim struggled to contribute. During his fifty, Shoaib completed 10000 runs in T20 cricket and also became only the third player after Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman to score 2000-plus runs in PSL history.

Shoaib kept Kings alive in the chase with a big unbeaten 86-run partnership with youngster Irfan Khan. But Naseem bowled a match-defining 18th over by conceding just six runs. Shoaib smashed two fours and Irfan added a big six in the last over but Gladiators survived with a six-run win. Shoaib top-scored with 71* off 49 and Irfan scored 37* off 26 for Kings in an admiring effort.

Here is how Twitter reacted to Quetta Gladiators' win over Karachi Kings in PSL 2023, Match 6:

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PSL 2024Karachi KingsQuetta GladiatorsImad WasimShoaib MalikMartin Guptill