Kevin Pietersen announced himself in PSL by leading Quetta Gladiators to a comfortable six-wicket win over Islamabad United at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.
The third edition of PSL, which has seen a handful of low scoring encounters, was about to add another one to the list but for a masterful innings by former England captain Kevin Pietersen.
Pietersen, who is playing his last tournament as a professional cricketer, blasted a 24-ball 48, stroking the ball to all parts of the ground and using his brute force to clear the fence also. He hit three sixes with one of the landing outside the stadium and into the parking area – becoming a front-runner for the biggest six of PSL season three.
However, that was not the first six that landed outside the stadium in the current seasons of PSL. Pietersen’s teammate, Shane Watson had done the honours a few overs earlier.
With contributions from Asad Shafiq (22) and Mohammad Nawaz (25), Quetta reached the 135-run target in 17.1 overs.
For Islamabad, Steve Finn was the pick of the bowlers, accounting for three of the Quetta batsmen in his four-over spell.
Earlier, the roller coaster like Islamabad innings somehow managed to crawl to 134 in their 20 overs. Much of the credit goes to New Zealand wicket-keeper batsman Luke Ronchi, who played a blistering innings of 43 from 26 balls but after his departure, JP Duminy and Misbah-Ul-Haq, both of them playing their first match of the season, struggled to keep the scoreboard moving.
Is it wasn’t for the lower order surge from Faheem Ashraf (21 off 13), Islamabad would have struggled to cross the 130-run mark.