Quetta Gladiators (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Balochi: ;

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

: کویټه ګلیډیټرز) is a Pakistani professional

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single inn ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

franchise that competes in the

Pakistan Super League The Pakistan Super League (PSL) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league contested during February and March of every year by six teams representing six cities of Pakistan. The league was founded on 9 September 2015 with five teams by the Paki ...

(PSL). They play most home games at the 27,000-capacity

Gaddafi Stadium Gaddafi Stadium ( ur, , translit=Qaẕẕāfī Isṭeḍiyam), previously known as Lahore Stadium is a cricket stadium in Lahore, Pakistan and the home ground of Lahore Qalandars. It is owned by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). With a capa ...

. The Gladiators won and became the champions in PSL 2019. The team is nominally based in

Quetta Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه‎) is the tenth most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in south-west of the country close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is the capital of ...

, the provincial capital of Balochistan, Pakistan. The franchise was established in 2015 as a result of the formation of PSL by the

Pakistan Cricket Board The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is a sports governing body for cricket in Pakistan responsible for controlling and organising all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan national cricket team. A member of the International Cricket Counc ...

(PCB). The team's homeground is Bugti Stadium. The team is captained by Sarfaraz Ahmed and coached by former Pakistani

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. ...

Moin Khan Muhammad Moin Khan ( ur, ; born 23 September 1971) is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer, primarily a wicketkeeper-batsman, who remained a member of the Pakistani national cricket team from 1990 to 2004. He has also captained the ...

and Azam Khan is the team's manager. Abdul Razzaq is the assistant coach. The leading run-scorer of the team is Sarfaraz Ahmed while the leading wicket-taker is Mohammad Nawaz.

Franchise history

In December 2015, the

unveiled the owners of all five city-based franchises for the inaugural season of the

. The

franchise was sold to the

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

-based company Omar Associates for US$11 Million.

2016 and 2017 seasons: Runners-Up

Quetta began their 2016 campaign with comfortable wins over

Islamabad United Islamabad United ( ur, ) is a Pakistani professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team that competes in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). It was the inaugural champion of the Pakistan Super League. The team is based in Islamabad, the capital ci ...

and

Karachi Kings Karachi Kings ( ur, ; sd, ڪراچي ڪنگز) (abbreviated as KK) is a Pakistani professional franchise Twenty20 cricket team that competes in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The team is based in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh, ...

before edging past

Peshawar Zalmi Peshawar Zalmi ( ur, ; ps, پېښور زلمي; literally meaning "Peshawar's youth") is a Pakistani franchise T20 cricket team which plays in the Pakistan Super League and represents Peshawar, the capital city of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa pro ...

in a closely fought match. A defeat against Lahore Qalanders was followed by a big win over Islamabad in which

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

all-rounder Grant Elliott, who had just joined the team, proved instrumental in the win as he took 3 key wickets to restrict United to 117. The win took the team to the top of the table and was followed by a victory against Karachi which saw the Gladiators confirmed as the first team to make the play-off stage of the 2016 season. Quetta finished 2nd in the

(PSL) table behind Peshawar, winning six of their eight matches. In the first qualifier match Quetta defeated Peshawar by one run, with the Gladiators scoring 133 runs thanks to a score of 53 runs by

Kevin Pietersen Kevin Peter Pietersen (born 27 June 1980) is a cricket commentator, conservationist, and former England international cricket player. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who played in all three formats for England betw ...

and 37 runs by

Kumar Sangakkara Kumara Chokshananda Sangakkara ( si, කුමාර් චොක්ශනාද සංගක්කාර; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee and the ...

. In reply, Peshawar scored 132 runs after taking the match to the last ball. This win qualified Quetta for the final in which they lost to Islamabad by six wickets, posting a total of 174/7 with scores of 64 runs by Ahmed Shehzad and 55 runs by Sangakkara. Ahmed Shehzad finished as the team's leading run scorer with 290 runs, whilst Mohammad Nawaz took 13 wickets to be the leading wicket-taker for the team. RILEE ROSSOUW (15706681502)

As for 2017 season,

and Grant Elliott were released by Quetta just a few days before the PSL transfer window came to an end in September 2016. Sangakara was taken by

while Grant Elliot joined the

Lahore Qalandars Lahore Qalandars ( ur, ; pnb, لہور قلندرز; abbreviated as LQ) is a Pakistani professional cricket franchise which plays in the Pakistan Super League, representing the city of Lahore. The home ground of the team is Gaddafi Stadium. ...

. Quetta retained 10 players in advance of the 2017 Pakistan Super League players draft and signed eight during the draft. The signings including foreign players

Rovman Powell Rovman Powell (born 23 July 1993) is a Jamaican cricketer who plays for the West Indies cricket team and current vice-captain in Limited overs cricket. In December 2018, he captained the West Indies for the first time in a One Day International ...

Carlos Brathwaite Carlos Ricardo Brathwaite (born 18 July 1988) is a cricketer from Barbados and a former captain of the West Indies Twenty20 International (T20I) team. International career Brathwaite made his T20I debut for the West Indies against Bangladesh on ...

Tymal Mills Tymal Solomon Mills (born 12 August 1992) is an English international cricketer who currently plays internationally for England and domestically for Sussex. He is a left-handed fast bowler and a right-handed batsman who plays mainly as a bowler. ...

, and David Willey. However, of these only Tymal Mills will be joining the team as the other players were unavailable. Mahmudullah Riad and

Rilee Rossouw Rilee Roscoe Rossouw (born 9 October 1989) is a South African cricketer who played for South Africa between 2014 and 2016, before making a return to international cricket in July 2022. In South Africa he played domestic cricket for Knights and ...

joined the team as a replacement for

Mohammad Nabi Mohammad Nabi Eisakhil ( ps, ; born 1 January 1985) is an Afghan cricketer and former captain of the Afghanistan national cricket team. Nabi is an attacking batting all-rounder, playing as a right-handed batsman and off b ...

and David Willey while

Nathan McCullum Nathan Leslie McCullum (born 1 September 1980) is a former New Zealand international cricketer, who represented the New Zealand cricket team in One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals. He has represented New Zealand in six T20 World ...

and

Thisara Perera Narangoda Liyanaarachchige Thisara Chirantha Perera ( si, තිසර පෙරේරා; born 3 April 1989), popularly as Thisara Perera, is a former Sri Lankan international cricketer who played all formats for the national team. He also cap ...

replaced

and

. A number of reasons have forced the changes, from injury to some players to others not getting no-objection certificates to scheduling clashes with international cricket. In their opening game of the 2017 season, Quetta Gladiators defended a target of 137 runs against the Lahore Qalanders. The match was closely fought and went down to the penultimate over where the Gladiators won by 8 runs. Debutant Hasan Khan emerging player of Quetta was adjudged player-of-the-match for his all-round performance of 2 important wickets and a quick-fire 16 runs at the end. In the following match, Gladiators beat

by 7 wickets. After an initial stutter in pursuit of 160, which saw them at 30/3, Riley Roussow and Sarfaraz Ahmed combined in an unbeaten partnership of 130 for the fourth wicket to take the Gladiators home with 5 balls to spare.

was adjudged man-of-the-match for his unbeaten, match-winning knock of 76 off 53 balls. During the second leg of the tournament, in

Sharjah Sharjah (; ar, ٱلشَّارقَة ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, forming part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Sharjah is the capital ...

, the Gladiators suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of defending champions,

. After putting up a target of 149 in their 20 overs, which saw the Gladiators struggling to accelerate their innings, they lost by 5 wickets. In the following game, against

, the match was abandoned after repeated showers and the two teams shared the points from the bout. Continuing their campaign, the Gladiators successful chased down 201 against the Lahore Qalandars in what many pundits labelled as the match-of-the-season. Kevin Pieterson and Sarfaraz Ahmad were instrumental in the chase through a 101-runs partnership. The former who was going through a lean patch in this PSL struck form and hit 88 from 42 balls - including 8 sixes, as the Gladiators plundered 78 runs from the last 3.5 overs to seal the match. As the tournament shifted back to

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

, the Gladiators continued their winning streak by beating Karachi Kings by six wickets. The team's chase of 155 runs was commandeered by a 105-run opening partnership between Ahmad Shahzad 54 runs off 40 balls and

Asad Shafiq Asad Shafiq ( ur, ; born 28 January 1986) is a Pakistani cricketer who played for Pakistan national cricket team between 2010 and 2020. As of the 2021/22 season, he plays for Sindh in domestic cricket. Shafiq hails from a Gujarati family. H ...

45 runs off 33 balls - the highest of this edition's PSL. This win also effectively made the Gladaiotrs the first team to qualify for the playoffs. Continuing on, the team lost both of their last two matches of the league stage - against Islamabad United and Peshawar Zalmi respectively. In the former, the Gladiators imploded in the chase of 166 despite a 2nd-wicket partnership of 133 runs between Kevin Pieterson 69 runs off 43 balls and Ahmad Shahzad 53 runs off 43 balls. Requiring, seven runs from the last two overs, the team fell short by 1 run. In the next match, the Gladiators could only manage a below-par score of 128 runs batting first. However, the team fielded and bowled quite well to have the chasing Zalmis reduce to 52-6 before Shahid Afridi took his team home with two wickets to spare. In the playoff, the Gladiators beat Peshawar Zalmi by 1 run in a thrilling contest. Batting first, the team posted a heavy 201-runs target on the board. This was made possible by aggressive batting from Ahmed Shehzad 71(38) and

40(22) which ensured that the Gladiators were going at a run rate of over 12 runs per over during the first half of the innings. In reply, the Zalmis responded in like and were favourites to win the match before a tight final over from Quetta spinner, Muhammad Nawaz, denied them the winning run. As a result of this match, the Gladiators became the first team to qualify for the final. In the final, the two teams met again, and Gladiators - the runners-up of the inaugural edition of the PSL, lost to Peshawar Zalmi by 58 runs. Batting first, the Zalmis were struggling at one point at 112 for 6 before Darren Sammy scored 33 runs in the last two overs, taking the team's total to a respectable 148. In reply, the Quetta batsmen never got going and lost wickets at regular intervals, ending up with a team score of just 90. The Gladiator's chances in the final were hurt by the fact that the team's two highest run scorers in the season,

and

, pulled out of the final in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

citing security concerns.

2018 season

In their opening game of the 2018 season, the Gladiators blemished their 100% success rate against

and lost to them for the first time - by 19 runs in the chase of 150. But in the next match, the Gladiators rebounded with an emphatic 9-wicket-win over

. This was their biggest win in terms of wicket margin, as they chased down Qalandar's target of 120 runs in 14 overs. As the league stage shifted to

, the Gladiators beat

by 6 wickets in the successful chase of a 135-run target.

anchored the innings with his contribution of 48 runs. The following match, however, the team lost a thriller against rivals Peshawer Zalmi. Batting first, the Gladiators set a target of 143 runs in a batting display that was punctuated with starts and stops on a two-paced pitch. In reply, the Zalmis were on course for victory at 107-2 before losing three quick wickets to end up requiring 22 runs from the last two overs. At this point, an injured

Darren Sammy Daren Julius Garvey Sammy (born 20 December 1983) is a Saint Lucian cricketer who played international cricket for the West Indies. He is a two time T20 World Cup winning captain. On making his One-Day International (ODI) debut against Bangla ...

single-handedly won the match for his team by striking 16 runs from 4 balls to finish the game with 2 balls to go. The Gladiators were comprehensively beaten in the next game by

Multan Sultans Multan Sultans (Urdu: ) is a Pakistani professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team representing the city of Multan in southern Pakistan in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The team was founded in 2017 as an additional sixth team added to the P ...

. Batting first, the team could only muster 102 runs on the board as they suffered a major batting collapse - losing their last 5 wickets for a solitary run. In reply, the Sultans chased down the target with 9 wickets to spare. As the tournament shifted back to

, the Gladiators experienced a change in fortune. The team won by 2 wickets in a closely fought contest against

. Chasing a target of 153 runs, they lost wickets at regular intervals before cameos from the lower order ensured that the team won off a penultimate-ball six hit by Hasan Khan. The Gladiators continued with their winning streak as they beat

and Peshawer Zalmi in the next two games. Against the Kings, the Gladiators set a target of 181 runs - their highest total of the season. It was built upon strong batting performances by

Shane Watson Shane Robert Watson (born 17 June 1981) is an Australian former cricketer, and occasional captain in all formats, who has played for Australia's national cricket team. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-handed fast-medium swing bowler w ...

, who scored 90*(58) - the highest individual score in this edition of the PSL - and

, who scored 52(34). In reply, the Kings suffered regular wicket losses that culminated in a 67-run loss. Against, the Zalmis, Quetta chased down a target 158 runs in the final over with 6 wickets in hand. The chase was guided by an unbroken 74-runs partnership between

and captain, Sarfraz Ahmad.

2019 season: Champions

Gladiators finished the group stage in the second position by winning seven of their matches and losing three. They then defeated

in the qualifier by 10 runs. In the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

, the Gladiators defeated Peshawar Zalmi by 8 wickets to win their first title. Gladiators'

Mohammad Hasnain Mohammad Hasnain (born 5 April 2000) is a Pakistani cricketer who has played for the Pakistan cricket team since 2019. He is one of the fastest bowlers currently, timed at over 150kmh. Early life Hasnain was born in a family of six tracing its ...

was awarded the man of the match award.

2020 season

The team started their season with a win over

by 3 wickets in the opening game of the season. In their second match, team lost to

by six wickets. The team won their next two matches against

and Islamabad United respectively, both by five wickets. Quetta then went on a losing streak, facing defeat in their next four matches. Their ninth match was abandoned due to rain. In their last match of the group stage, Quetta defeated Kings by 5 wickets, equaling points with Peshawar Zalmi but failed to qualify for the play-offs for the first time in team's history, due to low run-rate. In the end, they finished in the fifth position at league's table.

Team identity

The team name and the official logo were revealed on 6 January 2016 in

during a ceremony held by team owner Nadeem Omar. The logo depicts a variant of the ancient Roman ' Galea' helmet, worn by gladiators during their fights. The helmet is flanked by two bats that are poised as gladiatorial swords. The team's primary kit colours are

purple Purple is any of a variety of colors with hue between red and blue. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purples are produced by mixing red and blue light. In the RYB color model historically used by painters, ...

and

golden Golden means made of, or relating to gold. Golden may also refer to: Places United Kingdom *Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall * Golden Cap, Dorset *Golden Square, Soho, London *Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestershi ...

. The kit was revealed on 7 January 2016 in a launch ceremony held in

. The team's chant is ''Kai Kai Quetta'', which is taken from the war cry, ''Kai Kai'', coined by the

Baloch Regiment The Baloch Regiment is an infantry regiment of the Pakistan Army. The modern regiment was formed in May 1956 by the merger of 8th Punjab and Bahawalpur Regiments with the Baluch Regiment. Since then, further raisings have brought the strength of ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. It literally translates to 'we are coming'.

Anthems

* 2016 PSL: "Chaa Jaye Quetta" -

Faakhir Mehmood Faakhir Mehmood ( ur, ) is a Pakistani actor, singer, keyboradist, composer and music producer. He started out his career with the Pakistani musical group Awaz. However, due to conflicts of interest, the band split in 2000 and they all went t ...

and Faheem Allan Fakir * 2017 PSL: "Chah Gaya Quetta" -

featuring Sarfaraz Ahmed * 2018 PSL: "Agae Shaan Se Hum" - Zordaar11 featuring

and

Aima Baig Aima Noor-ul Ain Baig (, ; born 10 March 1995) is a Pakistani singer. She started her career in 2014 when she uploaded her songs onto SoundCloud, through which she was approached by different people. She is known for her appearances on Dunya N ...

* 2019 PSL: "We The Gladiators" - DJ Bravo / "Quetta Gladiator Anthem 2019" - Bayaan * 2020 PSL: "Shaan-e-Pakistan Hain Hum" - Harris Jalil Mir and Hasan Bin Hisam *

2021 PSL The 2021 Pakistan Super League (also known as PSL 6 or for sponsorship reasons HBL PSL 2021) was the sixth season of the Pakistan Super League, a franchise Twenty20 cricket league established by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in 2015. It was ...

: "Aar Ya Paar" - Raamis * 2022 PSL: "Shaan-e-Pakistan" - Bilal Maqsood featuring Ahmed Murtaza

Ambassadors

Before the start of the 2017 season, team's official mascot named "Gladdy" was revealed, making Quetta Gladiators the first team to officially introduce a mascot for the tournament. In early 2017, Quetta chose

pop singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Annie Khalid as their team ambassador. Other notables joining Quetta in ambassadorial roles are

Chaman Chaman ( Balochi, Pashto and ur, ) is a city and recently claimed as a new district of Balochistan named Chaman District as it was earlier a part of district Qila Abdullah District located on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. It is the capital o ...

-based footballer Kaleemullah and Quetta-based MMA fighter Ahmed Mujtaba. They were joined by Maya Ali and

as team's brand ambassadors in 2018. Only Maya Ali continued her role in 2019 and 2020. She remained the ambassador in 2021 as well, when she was joined by actor Bilal Ashraf, who was recruited in 2020. On 23 January 2022, Quetta unveiled the music video of its official anthem for the seventh edition of PSL, which featured actors

Adnan Siddiqui Adnan Siddiqui ( ur, ) (born 23 October 1969) is a Pakistani actor, producer and model who has worked in Lollywood and Hollywood and also made his debut in Bollywood with the Hindi film '' Mom'' (2017). He also has his own production house, '' ...

and Ushna Shah, and comedian Syed Shafaat Ali.

Current squad

Management and coaching staff

Nadeem Omar is the owner of the Quetta Gladiators.

Captains

Source
ESPNcricinfo
Last updated: 20 February 2022

Coaches

Result summary

Overall result in PSL

* Tie+W and Tie+L indicates matches tied and then won or Lost in a tiebreaker such as a bowlout or one-over-eliminator ("Super Over") * The result percentage excludes no results and counts ties (irrespective of a tiebreaker) as half a win. Source

Last updated: 20 February 2022

Head-to-head record

Source

Last updated: 20 February 2022

Statistics

Most runs

Source

Last updated: 18 March 2022

Most wickets

Source

Last Updated: 24 January 2022

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Quetta Gladiators 2015 establishments in Pakistan Cricket clubs established in 2016 Sports clubs in Pakistan Cricket in Quetta