Sameer Minhas, Shadab shine in United’s first win

LAHORE: A whirlwind knock by youngster Sameer Minhas backed by a superb all-round display from captain Shadab Khan steered Islamabad United to their first victory of the HBL Pakistan Super League 11 as they crushed Quetta Gladiators by eight wickets here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Thursday.

Chasing 184, United achieved the target with 10 balls to spare for the loss of only two wickets thanks to Sameer’s unbeaten career-best knock of 82 and 69 not out cracked by Shadab.

United had lost one match in the ongoing season while their second game was washed out. For Gladiators, it was their second loss of the edition.

Shadab, earlier in the day, fared impressively with the leather (3-23) too to earn the player-of-the-match award.

United lost opener Devon Conway (18 off 19 balls), caught by Ahmed Daniyal at short third man off mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed, as United ended powerplay at a solid 58-1.

Andries Gous (two) was cleaned up by Abrar in the seventh over to leave United at 61-2 in the seventh over.

At this stage, opener Sameer and Shadab took charge to make sure they do not lose any more wickets as they built a match-winning partnership of 128 runs while cruising towards the target.

Batting in an aggressive mode, the duo helped their side reach 100 off 11.4 overs. Sameer completed the fifty in just 32 balls while Shadab reached his off just 29.

Sameer faced just 48 balls striking eight fours and three sixes while Shadab plundered five fours and four sixes during his 39-ball blast.

The pair then raced to 150 off 15.4 overs making the target look much easier and completed their 100-run stand off mere 57 balls.

For Gladiators, Abrar was took two wickets for 29 runs while the rest struggled.

Earlier after electing to bat first, Gladiators posted 183-5 off the stipulated 20 overs thanks to Hasan Nawaz’s belligerent 66 not out. However, the total did not prove enough in the end.

After skipper Saud Shakeel (42 off 26) and Shamyl Hussain (21 off 15) got their team to a flying start of 50 in just 4.2 overs, the team dipped in the middle losing five wickets for the addition of 43 runs in around seven overs.

Gladiators had raced to 60-1 in powerplay after having lost Sha­myl who was dismissed by pacer Salman Irshad in the fifth over.

Saud’s crucial scalp was claimed by Shadab in the ninth over as the batter failed to play a slog sweep and was caught by Haider Ali at backward point. Saud hit three fours and as many sixes. The scoreboard read 71-2. The skipper was followed by Khawaja Nafay (18 off 14) dismissed by slow left-arm orthodox spinner Imad Wasim in the 11th over which made it 88-3 before Ben McDermott (three) and Bevon Jacobs (nought) were sent back to the hut on successive balls by Shadab in the next over.

Gladiators were now 93-5 and a collapse was on the cards but it was not to be as Hasan and Tom Curran (29 not out off 22 balls) got together to stitch a 90-run unbeaten stand. After posting 100 in 13.1 overs they changed gears to touch 150 in 18 overs. Hasan faced 36 balls and struck six fours and three sixes while Curran hit a couple of fours and a maximum.

Besides Shadab’s three-wicket burst, Imad and Salman chipped in with a wicket each.

SCOREBOARD

QUETTA GLADIATORS:

Saud Shakeel c Haider b Shadab 42

Shamyl Hussain c Haider b Salman 21

Khawaja Nafay c Haider b Imad 18

Hasan Nawaz not out 66

Ben McDermott b Shadab 3

Bevon Jacobs c&b Shadab 0

Tom Curran not out 29

EXTRAS (W-4) 4

TOTAL (for five wickets, 20 overs) 183

DID NOT BAT: Ahmed Daniyal, Alzarri Joseph, Abrar Ahmed, Usman Tariq

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-50 (Shamyl), 2-71 (Saud), 3-88 (Nafay), 4-93 (McDermott), 5-93 (Jacobs)

BOWLING: Green 2-0-19-0 (1w), Mirza 4-0-39-0 (1w), Faheem 2-0-23-0 (1w), Salman 4-0-42-1 (1w), Imad 4-0-37-1, Shadab 4-0-23-3

ISLAMABAD UNITED:

Devon Conway c Ahmed b Abrar 18

Sameer Minhas not out 82

Andries Gous b Abrar 2

Shadab Khan not out 69

EXTRAS (LB-7, W-11) 18

TOTAL (for two wickets, 18.2 overs) 189

DID NOT BAT: Mark Chapman, Haider Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Imad Wasim, Salman Mirza, Salman Irshad, Chris Green

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-44 (Conway), 2-61 (Gous)

BOWLING: Joseph 3-0-29-0 (2w), Curran 3-0-39-0 (1w), Abrar 4-0-29-2, Ahmed 3.2-0-42-0 (1w), Saud 1-0-8-0, Usman 4-0-35-0 (2w)

RESULT: Islamabad United won by eight wickets.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Shadab Khan

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2026

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