Quetta cruise as Rossouw, bowlers hand Rawalpindi fifth straight defeat

Quetta Gladiators returned to winning ways with a dominant 61-run win over Rawalpindi, who slumped to their fifth straight defeat. A solid batting effort led by Rilee Rossouw's half-century set up the game before the bowlers wrapped it up comfortably, bowling Rawalpindi out for 121 inside 18 overs.

Chasing 183, Rawalpindi never really got going. They lost Mohammad Rizwan off the first ball and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. From 76/3, the innings fell apart with seven wickets going for just 45 runs. Saad Masood's late 31 off 19 gave them something to cheer about, but they were nowhere in the contest.

Saud Shakeel, Jahandad Khan and Usman Tariq picked up two wickets each.

Earlier, Rossouw anchored the innings with 53 while Saud Shakeel added 42 in an 87-run stand for the second wicket that laid the platform. Hasan Nawaz then provided the push with a quick 39 off 16 balls, hitting five sixes, and Jahandad finished things off with an unbeaten 21 off six balls to take Quetta to 182/6.

Rawalpindi had their moments with the ball, led by Ben Sears' three wickets, but they could not stop Quetta from finishing with a total that proved too much on the night.

Brief scores: Quetta Gladiators 182/6 in 20 overs (Rilee Rossouw 53, Saud Shakeel 42; Ben Sears 3-41) beat Rawalpindi 121 all out in 17.3 overs (Saad Masood 31; Saud Shakeel 2-4, Jahandad Khan 2-8, Usman Tariq 2-23) by 61 runs.