Sharjah: Quetta Gladiators trounced Islamabad United by seven wickets in the 11th match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), leaving Islamabad team head coach Dean Jones wondering why his team’s strong batting is unable to click.

Electing to field first, Quetta bowled out Islamabad for a paltry 117 runs in 19.1 overs. The only batsman to withstand the Quetta bowling was Shane Watson, who hit 40 off 28 balls with three boundaries and three sixes. Grant Elliot, flying in from New Zealand and joining the team for the first time, destroyed Islamabad’s batting with a spell of 3 for 25 with his gentle medium pace.

Quetta won the match with 23 balls to spare despite Kevin Pietersen being bowled first ball by Andre Russell. Opener Ahmad Shehzad scored 41 runs and skipper Sarfraz Ahmad hit an unbeaten 51.

When Gulf News asked Jones whether the reputed Islamabad batsmen are failing due to an inability to adapt - or a wrong approach to the game - Jones answered elaborately, almost like a coach to a student. “It depends on how you play spin well. It’s no different whether it is Test, ODI or T20, it’s about when he tosses up he has to go down and get on the full or half volley and if it is short you play off the back foot,” he said. “We are getting caught too much on the crease. Now are we having a big cloud in our thinking when the spinners are coming on to bowl? It could be due to too many options or maybe just overthinking a little bit. One must see the ball, play the ball and hit it. Where all of a sudden you get dot, dot ,dot (balls) and put pressure on your game and you feel like you’ve got to play a big shot and bang, bang, bang, we land up losing five wickets for 46 off the spinners. Then the game is over.”

To a query whether the Islamabad total also was too small to defend, Jones candidly said: “We just hadn’t batted properly throughout this whole tournament. Nothing to take away from Quetta though, they batted five times second and have got four wins. So that is the way the pitches are here but we were not good. Great start at 1 for 54 but we just did not capitalise on the spinners again. We did not bat well.”

Jones is also enjoying the tremendous competition here. “The standard here is terrific. This is what Pakistan needs and it is what the PSL is all about. We want to give these guys an examination,” he said.

Brief scores:

Islamabad United 117 in 19.1 overs (Shane Watson 40, Zulfiqar Babar 2 for 29, Aizaz Cheema 2 for 14, Grant Elliott 3 for 25) Quetta Gladiators 118 for 3 in 16.1 overs (Ahmad Shehzad 41, Sarfraz Ahmad 51n.o) Man of the match: Grant Elliot

Today’s schedule (Saturday)

3.30 pm Karachi Kings vs Quetta Gladiators

8pm: Lahore Qalandars vs Peshwar Zalmi