Picture Credit: Twitter
The ongoing PSL 2022 witnessed one of the best knocks of the season on Monday during Match 15 between Lahore Qalandars and Quetta Gladiators. The last few matches in Karachi had been high-scoring affairs and the ground staff produced another belter for this match.
After being asked to bat first, Qalandars went on to post a huge total of 204/5 in 20 overs on the back of some brilliant knocks from Fakhar Zaman (70 off 45) and Harry Brook (41* off 17). However, the game was far from over!
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The huge targets have been hunted down by teams chasing this season and Jason Roy, the Gladiators opener, turned up with the same confidence. The English batter literally wreaked havoc in the middle as he showed no mercy to the top-class bowling line-up of Qalandars.
Roy gave a trailer of his destruction to follow, in the very first over of second innings, going down the track and smashing Shaheen Afridi for a glorious six over long-off boundary.
Just in case if anyone had any doubts, his intentions were clear when he hit two consecutive fours on next two deliveries. Roy continued to smash boundaries off Zaman Khan and Shaheen Afridi in the next two overs.
This is when Haris Rauf was introduced into the attack and much to the shock of everyone, the pacer was welcomed by a extravagant hit by Jason Roy as the ball was heaved away for a brilliant six off the pads.
With another six and a four in the over, the right-handed batsman completed his half-century in 20 deliveries, making it the fastest fifty by a Quetta Gladiators player in PSL. Interestingly, as the score read 56/0, Roy was batting on 50* while his partner Ahsan Ali was at 1* off 2 balls.
This is when Lahore Qalandars pulled the trigger. Rashid Khan was called into action, earlier than expected, as the opposition were quite keen to take the wicket of Jason Roy. However, the batter was in no mood to stop, no matter who the bowler was on the evening.
He attempted a giant sweep off Rashid and the ball, after taking the top-edge of his bat, went all over the fielder at boundary for another huge six. It was clear that it was going to be the Jason Roy day!
Roy was literally unstoppable on Monday as he eventually went on to complete his century in only 49 deliveries with another mesmerizing maximum over deep mid-wicket. His celebration and the reaction from his mates in the dug-out was a clear reflection that the player has played an extremely extra-ordinary innings.
The 31-year-old went on to score 116 runs off 57 deliveries, hitting 11 fours and 8 sixes at a strike rate of 203.51. He eventually lost his wicket to David Wiese while attempting another audacious shot towards the fine-leg region.
His knock would certainly raise the eyebrows of all the IPL franchises as well ahead of the mega auction, where the English batter (Base Price: INR 2 crore) will go under the hammer.