Quetta Gladiators captain Sarfaraz Ahmed feels his team could have won the game if they had batted a little carefully against defending champions Multan Sultans at the National Stadium, Karachi on Monday in the seventh match of the Pakistan Super League 2022.

Quetta Gladiators had to chase 175 runs against Mohammed Rizwan-led team but they fell six runs short of the target. Multan Sultans posted a par score of 174 runs after Sarfaraz Ahmed won the toss and decided to bowl first.

Shan Masood scored a fine knock of 88 runs off just 58 balls and gave a fine start to the team despite the early wicket of Mohammed Rizwan. Tim David added the finishing touches for Multan Sultans as he smashed 28 runs off just 16 balls to help his team post a competitive total.

On the other hand, Quetta Gladiators were well on their way to the run-chase but Ahmed feels Iftikhar Ahmed’s dismissal and James Faulkner’s run-out was the turning point of the game. Iftikhar scored a fine cameo of 30 runs off just 13 balls but he was dismissed by David Willey.

In fact, five of Gladiators batters were able to get off to starts but could not take their team over the line. None of the batsmen were able to go past the 50-run mark.

Sarfaraz Ahmed said in the post-match presentation, “When Iftikhar got out that’s where we lost the game and that Faulkner’s run out also proved to be very costly. We wanted to take it to the last over and had we batted a little carefully we would have won the game”.

Meanwhile, Multan Sultans spinners were able to deliver the goods for the team. Khushdil Shah and Imran Tahir bagged three wickets each while medium-pacer David Willey also scalped three wickets for the team.

Multan Sultans were able to win their third match of the season while the Gladiators have managed only a solitary win out of their three games. The Gladiators will next face Islamabad United on Thursday at the National Stadium, Karachi.