LAHORE: Intermittent rain since this morning turned out to be the main villain for defending champions Quetta Gladiators as their ninth match against leaders Multan Sultans in HBL Pakistan Super League was washed out without even the toss taking place here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Wednesday night.

The turn of events during the past week have really dented the Quetta Gladiators’ chances of making the playoffs. The Quetta management had hit out at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday over the unfair and hectic travelling and match schedule, which they said had badly affected their chances in this PSL V edition.

Match-referee Sheikh Muhammad Anees called off the match at 8.03pm after conveying the decision to both the captains Sarfaraz Ahmad (Quetta) and Shan Masood (Multan) as the heavy spell of rain earlier in the day left the ground in an unplayable condition. Both the teams shared one points each. Multan Sultans now have 12 points from eight matches while Gladiators are struggling at the 6th place with just seven points from nine matches. They now have their last match against Karachi Kings in Karachi on March 15.

Rainy spells in early afternoon were followed by constant drizzle throughout the day which did not allow the toss to take place as the teams kept waiting in the pavilion for an unlikely good news.

It may be mentioned here that now Karachi Kings having seven points from seven matches and is the only team which has three matches to play while Lahore Qalandars, who have acculmulated eight points from eight matches, have two more matches to go. Thus both Kings and Qalandars have better chance to grab the remaining three play-off spots as compared to the Gladiators and Islamabad United. The two times champions United have just seven points from nine matches. Current Standings

(Tabulated under played, won, lost, tied, no-result, points, net run-run-rate):

Multan Sultans 8 5 1 0 2 12 +1.547

Peshawar Zalmi 9 4 4 0 1 9 -0.048

Lahore Qalandars 8 4 4 0 0 8 -0.019

Islamabad United 9 3 5 0 1 7 +0.259

Karachi Kings 7 3 3 0 1 7 -0.249

Quetta Gladiators 9 3 5 0 1 7 -1.052

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2020