Sharjah February 28: Sarfraz Ahmed led Quetta Gladiators registered an emphatic six wicket win over former HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) champions Islamabad United in the ninth match of the 2018 edition of the league.

Set a target of 135 for a win, the Gladiators chased down the target in only 17.1 overs courtesy a 48 run innings by veteran Kevin Pietersen who helped his team recover from the early loss of Shane Watson and Umar Amin while Asad Shafiq also perished after a breezy 22.

Pietersen was named Man-of-the-Match for his match winning effort.

All-rounder Mohammad Nawaz made an unbeaten 25 and helped Pietersen build a match winning partnership of 70 runs for the fourth wicket.

Steven Finn bowled with great hostility taking three wickets in his fiery spell but even his heroics couldn’t stop the Gladiators batting juggernaut.

Mohammad Sami took one wicket for 22 runs.

Earlier, United failed to make most of largely batting friendly conditions after being asked to bat first at the toss by Sarfraz.

United were jolted early as Anwar Ali and Rahat Ali accounted for Chadwick Walton and Asif Ali.

Asif fell to a peach of a delivery by the left-armer Rahat that pitched on middle-stump and swung late to hit the top of the off-stump.

Luke Ronchi upped the ante taking 24 off the first over bowled by Hastings. But the joy was short-lived for both Ronchi and United as the opener was bowled by left-arm spinner Hasan Khan for 43.

Ronchi’s demise brought to the crease Misbahul Haq who was leading the United outfit for the first time in the 2018 edition after missing the first two games due to a hamstring injury.

New entrant JP Duminy and Misbah failed to sustain the momentum provided by Ronchi, the duo couldn’t force the pace in the middle overs and both were dismissed in quick succession as they attempted to up the scoring rate.

United desperately needed boundaries at the end of their innings but we’re held back by Gladiators bowling line-up.

The shackles were finally broken by Faheem who tonked two sides of successive deliveries in the penultimate over bowled by Watson.

United were eventually restricted to 134 for seven and despite the sluggish nature of the pitch, the United batsmen were disappointing with their efforts.

Rahat took one for 18 in his four overs while Anwar and Hasan took a wicket apiece conceding 13 and 12 runs each.