Will the Quetta Gladiators change their team in 2023?
KARACHI: Quetta Gladiators, who have lost three of their last four games, will make some changes for today’s important Pakistan Super League (PSL 8) match against Islamabad United, sources told The News.
In the match against United, which is set to start at 7 p.m. at the National Bank Cricket Arena, Gladiators will try to get back on track.
Will the Quetta Gladiators change their team in 2023?
If they want to make the playoffs, they need to get back on track right away.
The main thing that worries the Gladiators is that their batting hasn’t worked at all in any of the four games they’ve played so far. Martin Guptill’s 117 in their six-run win over Karachi Kings was their best performance by an individual player. The New Zealander led his team to 168-7 on his own.
And the pace duo of Mohammad Hasnain and Naseem Shah did well in the final overs to give the only win to the Gladiators as the Karachi Kings were kept to 162-5.
When the Gladiators played Peshawar Zalmi on February 20, Iftikhar Ahmed (50) and captain Sarfaraz Ahmed (39) added 74 for the fourth wicket to help the Gladiators come back from being down 37-3. This was the only other slightly positive batting performance by an individual.
The Gladiators still didn’t win that game because their defensive strategy during the power play was wrong. They only scored 28 runs, and their total score was 154-4. Zalmi reached that goal with nine balls left, even though they had lost six wickets.
After Multan Sultans bowled them out for only 110 runs in their first game, Gladiators were never seen as a good batting team.
Team sources say that there is a chance that Gladiators will make some changes when they play Islamabad United. A Gladiators source told The News, “Yes, some changes are being thought about.”
“We’re worried about batting because we’ve seen some collapses. We’ve talked about this at the meetings. We’ve also talked about how we need to use the powerplay. There is also a chance that the batting order will be changed,” the source said.
“We haven’t seen the kind of team spirit we need to win in the camp during the last few games, and we’ve talked about this and tried to get the unit fired up. The source said, “We are definitely ready to keep improving against United on Sunday.”
Thursday was practise day for the gladiators.
The source also said that they haven’t decided who will replace Wanindu Hasaranga, who couldn’t play because Sri Lanka Cricket didn’t give him a “no objection certificate” (NOC).
Islamabad United, on the other hand, has only won one of their two games so far. In their third match, which was set for Thursday, they were going to play Peshawar Zalmi.
United beat Karachi Kings by four wickets in their first game on February 16. In Multan, Multan Sultans beat United by 52 runs.
But Fazalhaq Farooqui and Rahmanullah Gurbaz, two new players from Afghanistan, have joined United. This gives them more options as they try to decide who will play in their starting lineup.
Squads: Martin Guptill, Jason Roy, Umar Akmal, Mohammad Hafeez, Sarfaraz Ahmed (captain), Iftikhar Ahmed, Abdul Wahid Bangalzai, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Qais Ahmad, Odean Smith, Omair bin Yousuf, Will Smeed, Saud Shakeel, Nuwan Thushara.
Shadab Khan is the captain of Islamabad United. Other players on the team are Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Asif Ali, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Mohammad Wasim Junior, Azam Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Abrar Ahmed, Colin Munro, Paul Stirling, Rumman Raees, Sohaib Maqsood, Hassan Nawaz, Zeeshan Za (yet to join).