Jason Roy smashes PSL record 145* to keep Gladiators' hopes alive

Quetta Gladiators 243 for 2 (Roy 145*, Hafeez 41*, Mujeeb 1-38) beat Peshawar Zalmi 240 for 2 (Babar 115, Ayub 74, Pretorius 1-40) by eight wicketsIt all descended into a fog of boundaries, and nothing seemed to make sense. The upshot of 483 runs, 54 fours and 21 sixes was that Quetta Gladiators move one step closer to mounting an astonishing comeback and booking a place in the last four for the first time since 2019. Babar Azam's eighth T20 century saw Peshawar Zalmi post their highest score, setting Gladiators 241 to win. But Jason Roy set to the task like a man possessed, blitzing an unbeaten 145 off 63 balls to ultimately canter to victory with ten balls to spare. It broke Colin Ingram's record for the highest individual score in PSL history, and the third-highest T20 chase of all time. More importantly, it keeps Gladiators alive in the PSL this season, one win away from likely qualification.Gladiators looked punch-drunk when the first innings ended after a haphazard bowling and fielding performance, combined with a masterclass from Babar and Saim Ayub looked to have broken their spirits. But they came out having a go on a surface not even the most accomplished power-hitters could have dreamt of preparing, and immediately got off to a flyer. Martin Guptill's brief cameo - 21 off eight - set the tone, but Roy was only just getting warmed up.Fresh off a stint with his national side in Bangladesh, he picked up in Rawalpindi where he'd left off in Mirpur. A blow-by-blow account of the frenzy wouldn't quite do justice to the fluid, liquid nature of the innings, one six morphing into the next, one over blending into the other. For Zalmi's bowlers, it began to look like a fever dream as one big over followed another, and the bowlers took turns to front up and cop a hiding. Each of the first eight overs saw at least two boundaries scored, and by this time, Gladiators had got themselves to 118 for one, having knocked off half the target with 12 overs still to spare.There were supporting acts from the other end, but