KP brushes off king pair with PSL blitz

It’s not often that Kevin Pietersen registers two golden ducks in as many innings, but the former England star bounced back in remarkable style on Saturday night in the Pakistan Super League.

After a slow start to the tournament, Pietersen returned to form and hit six sixes from the final nine balls he faced as his Quetta Gladiators chased down a victory target of 201 with seven balls to spare against the Lahore Qalandars.

The right-hander’s first four games in the second edition of the PSL saw returns of 3, 0, 0 and a DNB in a washout, but he found form with an unbeaten 88 off just 42 balls, including eight sixes, to put his side on top of the table.

The Qalandars had earlier posted an imposing 200 from their 20 overs, as England opener Jason Roy pumped a 27-ball 51.

And Quetta’s hopes of reeling in the total looked shot when they needed more than 15 runs an over with four overs to go.

But Pietersen kicked into gear late in the chase, bringing up his 50 by launching Sunil Narine over the rope and then hitting a maximum from six of the last nine deliveries he faced.

In all, the Gladiators took 63 from the last 17 balls of their chase to seal the five-wicket win.

In the other PSL match on Saturday, Shane Watson played an important hand in helping Islamabad United to a last-ball victory in a thriller against the Peshawar Zalmi.

With fellow Australian Brad Haddin back in the sheds early in Islamabad’s run-chase of 137, Watson put on 63 with West Indian Dwayne Smith (72 not out).

The allrounder fell for 30 on the penultimate ball of the game when the scores were level, but No.7 Amad Butt got the reigning PSL champions over the line, hitting the winning runs off his first ball.