The
Quetta Gladiators
Quetta Gladiators (Urdu, Balochi: ) is a Pakistani professional Twenty20 cricket franchise that competes in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). They play most home games at the Gaddafi Stadium. The Gladiators won and became the champions in PSL ...
is a franchise cricket team that represents
Quetta
Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...
in the
Pakistan Super League
The Pakistan Super League (PSL), also known as HBL PSL for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in Pakistan, organised by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
Founded by the PCB in 2015, the league features six city-bas ...
. They were one of the five teams that had a competition in the
2017 Pakistan Super League
The 2017 Pakistan Super League (also known as PSL 2 or, for sponsorship reasons, HBL PSL 2017), was the second season of the Pakistan Super League, a franchise Twenty20 cricket league established by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in 2016. On ...
. The team was captained by
Sarfraz Ahmed, and coached by
Moin Khan
Muhammad Moin Khan (; born 23 September 1971) is a Pakistani cricket administrator, coach, and former cricketer, primarily a wicket-keeper-batsman, who remained a member of the Pakistani national cricket team from 1990 to 2004. He was a part of ...
. The team was mentored by
Viv Richards
Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards (born 7 March 1952) is a retired Antiguan cricketer who represented the West Indies cricket team between 1974 and 1991. Usually batting at number three in a dominant West Indies side, Richards is widely ...
. They finished on second position after winning four matches from their eight matches in the PSL 2017. They finished runners-up for the second time in a row after losing the
final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...
against
Peshawar Zalmi
Peshawar Zalmi (; ; literally meaning "Peshawar's youth") is a Pakistani franchise Twenty20 cricket team which plays in the Pakistan Super League and represents Peshawar, the capital city of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The team is owned b ...
.
Squad
Kumar Sangakkara
Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara (; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan former professional cricketer who represented Sri Lanka from 2000 to 2015. A former captain in all formats. He was born in Matale, Central Province. In first-class cricke ...
and
Grant Elliott
Grant David Elliott (born 21 March 1979) is a former New Zealand cricketer, who played all formats of the game. Primarily a batting all-rounder, Elliott contributed a man of the match performance to provide entrance to New Zealand's first ever ...
were released by Quetta just a few days before the PSL transfer window came to an end in September 2016. Sangakara was signed by
Karachi Kings
Karachi Kings (; ) is a Pakistani professional franchise Twenty20 cricket team that competes in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The team is based in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh, and was formed in 2015 by the Pakistan Cricket Boar ...
while Grant Elliot joined
Lahore Qalandars
Lahore Qalandars is a Pakistani professional cricket franchise which plays in the Pakistan Super League, representing Lahore, the capital of Punjab. They are the current champions of the PSL and the most successful team in the tournament's hist ...
.
Quetta retained 10 players in advance of the
2017 Pakistan Super League players draft and signed eight during the draft. The signings including overseas players
Rovman Powell,
Tymal Mills, and
David Willey. However, of these only Mills joined the team as the other players were unavailable.
Mahmudullah Riad and
Rilee Rossouw
Rilee Roscoe Rossouw (born 9 October 1989) is a South African cricketer who played for the South African cricket team. Rossouw currently represents Pretoria Capitals, Quetta Gladiators and Jaffna Kings. He is a left-hand batsman and a right a ...
joined the team as replacements for
Mohammad Nabi
Mohammad Nabi Eisakhil (; born 1 January 1985) is an Afghan cricketer and former captain of the Afghanistan national cricket team. Nabi is an attacking batting all-rounder, playing as a right-handed batsman and off-break ...
and
David Willey.
Kit manufacturers and sponsors
,
Season summary
In their opening game of the 2017 season, Quetta Gladiators managed to defend a target of 137 against the
Lahore Qalanders. The match was closely fought and went down to the penultimate over where the Gladiators won by 8 runs. Debutant
Hasan Khan emerging player of Quetta was adjudged player-of-the-match for his all round performance of 2 important wickets and a quick-fire 16 runs at the end. In the following match, Gladiators beat
Karachi Kings
Karachi Kings (; ) is a Pakistani professional franchise Twenty20 cricket team that competes in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The team is based in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh, and was formed in 2015 by the Pakistan Cricket Boar ...
by 7 wickets. After an initial stutter in pursuit of 160, that saw them at 30/3, Riley Roussow and
Sarfaraz Ahmed
Sarfaraz Ahmed (; born 22 May 1987) is a Pakistani former cricketer who played for the Pakistani national cricket team between 2007 and 2023. He captained the Pakistan side in all formats from 2016 to 2019 and under his captaincy, Pakistan won ...
combined in an unbeaten partnership of 130 for the fourth wicket to take the Gladiators home with 5 balls to spare.
Rilee Rossouw
Rilee Roscoe Rossouw (born 9 October 1989) is a South African cricketer who played for the South African cricket team. Rossouw currently represents Pretoria Capitals, Quetta Gladiators and Jaffna Kings. He is a left-hand batsman and a right a ...
was adjudged man-of-the-match for his unbeaten, match-winning knock of 76 off 53 balls.
During the second leg of the tournament, in
Sharjah
Sharjah (; ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It is the capital of the Emirate of Sharjah and forms part of the D ...
, the Gladiators suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of defending champions,
Islamabad United
Islamabad United () is a Pakistani professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team that competes in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The team is based in Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan, and was formed in 2015 to compete in the first ...
. After putting up a target of 149 in their 20-overs, that saw the Gladiators struggling to accelerate their innings, they lost by 5 wickets. In the following game, against
Peshawar Zalmi
Peshawar Zalmi (; ; literally meaning "Peshawar's youth") is a Pakistani franchise Twenty20 cricket team which plays in the Pakistan Super League and represents Peshawar, the capital city of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The team is owned b ...
, the match was abandoned after repeated showers and the two teams shared the points from the bout. Continuing their campaign, the Gladiators successful chased down 201 against the Lahore Qalandars in what many pundits labeled as the match-of-the-season.
Kevin Pieterson and Sarfaraz Ahmad were instrumental in the chase through a 101-run partnership. The former who was going through a lean patch in this PSL struck form and hit 88 from 42 balls - including 8 sixes, as the Gladiators plundered 78 runs from the last 3.5 overs to seal the match.
As the tournament shifted back to
Dubai
Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
, the Gladiators continued their winning streak by beating Karachi Kings by 6-wickets. The team's chase of 155 was commandeered by a 105-run opening partnership between
Ahmad Shahzad 54(40) and
Asad Shafiq
Asad Shafiq (; born 28 January 1986) is a Pakistani former cricketer who played for the Pakistan national cricket team between 2010 and 2020. He is a member of the Men's National Selection Committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board.
In August 2 ...
45(33) - the highest of this edition's PSL. This win also effectively made the Gladaiotrs the first team to qualify for the play-offs. Continuing on, the team lost both of their last two matches of the league stage - against Islamabad United and Peshawar Zalmi respectively. In the former, the Gladiators imploded in the chase of 166 despite a 2nd-wicket partnership of 133 between Kevin Pieterson 69(43) and Ahmad Shahzad 53(43). Requiring, seven runs from the last two overs, the team fell short by 1 run. In the next match, the Gladiators could only manage a below-par score of 128 batting first. However, the team fielded and bowled quite well to have the chasing Zalmis reduce to 52-6 before
Shahid Afridi
Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi (, ; born 1 March 197is a Pakistani former cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team. An all-rounder, Afridi was a right-handed leg spinner and a right-handed batsman.
Afridi made ...
took his team home with 2-wickets to spare.
The team thus qualified for Qualifier 1, and defeated Peshawar Zalmi by 1 run in a close encounter to qualify for the final directly. They put a score of 200/7 by the efforts of 71 runs innings of
Ahmed Shehzad
Ahmed Shehzad (born 23 November 1991) is a former Pakistani international cricketer.
He is an opening batsman who made his One Day International and Twenty20 International debut for Pakistan in April 2009 against Australia. He was a member o ...
.
Season standings
Quetta Gladiators finished second in the points table of
2017 Pakistan Super League
The 2017 Pakistan Super League (also known as PSL 2 or, for sponsorship reasons, HBL PSL 2017), was the second season of the Pakistan Super League, a franchise Twenty20 cricket league established by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in 2016. On ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quetta Gladiators in 2017
2017 in Balochistan, Pakistan
2017 Pakistan Super League
Gladiators in 2017
2017
2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly.
Events January
* January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...