The defending champions at the Pakistan Super League in 2020, Quetta Gladiators have not made a lot of changes to their winning combination this year. In fact, they have added a few players that will contribute positively towards their success in the upcoming season.
Former Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed will lead the Gladiators once again in 2020 and will have a lot to prove to the national selectors who decided to crack the whip on him for national captaincy. Ahmed has a strong squad to play in the tournament and his captaincy skills would be put to test on how to maintain the right team balance throughout the competition.
The primary goal for the Gladiators will be to maintain the top spot in the PSL points table to ensure a smooth sailing to the Final. They have to begin on a high note to achieve that.
The batting line-up for Quetta consists of Ahmed Shehzad, Ahsan Ali and England opener Jason Roy. All three of them were in the squad when they won the tournament in 2019. Shehzad has played over 200 T20s and is close to 6000 runs in the format. Ali is just 51 runs away from getting to 1000 runs in the shortest format and Roy is also past the 5000 run mark in the format. The combined experience of close to 450 games in the top 3 will be crucial for the Gladiators. They have added another batsman in their squad, the 100-T20 old Khurram Manzoor.
They also have picked four all-rounders, including three foreigners. Mohammad Nawaz, 125 T20s, is the only Pakistani in the all-rounder column. Ben Cutting and Shane Watson, who have a combined experience of over 450 T20s will not only add to the batting power but also can chip in with a few overs if required. Watson is a big match player as he has shown in the last two IPL finals where he scored the major chunk of the runs for the Chennai Super Kings.
They have also struck the right balance between experience and youth as the fourth all-rounder is a 21-year-old West Indian, Keemo Paul. He is a very talented cricketer who is already playing all three formats for his national side. Skipper Ahmed’s deputy, Umar Akmal can also don the wicket-keeping gloves which is an added benefit to the team. Even then, they have invested in a 32-year-old wicket-keeper Azam Khan.
Pakistan has never been short of fast bowlers and Quetta has a good set of them. Sohail Khan, Naseem Shah and Mohammad Hasnain will be aided by the Englishman Tymal Mills. Naseem Shah will be available to play in the tournament as he was withdrawn from Pakistan’s U19 squad for the World Cup. Had he been kept in the squad, he would not have been available to play in the PSL as the U19 Cricket World Cup Schedule clashes with the schedule of PSL 2020. The Quetta Gladiators have picked the Australian leg spinner Fawad Ahmed as the only specialist spinner.
The squad looks promising to win any T20 tournament and given that they have fresh memories of winning the PSL last year, they are certainly in a great position to win the tournament in 2020 as well.
