England's Will Smeed has taken the Pakistan Super League (PSL) by storm after scoring 97 runs on his league debut for the Quetta Gladiators, but couldn't prevent his side's defeat as he ended on the losing side. The Somerset star signed as a replacement for Jason Roy and took the initiative in the second match of the PSL, as he guided his team to a solid total of 190 losing four wickets but Peshawar Zalmi reached the target to secure the win ultimately.
The 97-run knock turned out to be the highest individual score by any English player in the PSL. The previous record was former England skipper Kevin Pietersen's.
Smeed, opened the innings along with Ahsan Ali. The Englishmen made full use of his brief opportunity as he scored runs all across the park. Alongside Ali, he registered an opening partnerhsip of 155 runs. Ali, departed for a well-made 73 off 46 deliveries.
Final over drama
Smith on the other hand continued his terrific batting as he needed eight runs from the final over to score a ton. While batting on 97 he needed a boundary on the final ball but missed the chance to notch a century as he was caught by Patrick Brown. His innings was comprised of 11 fours and four sixes as he ended with a strike rate of 156.
The post-match interview
"I’ve been quite fortunate and a few of these opportunities have popped up,” Smeed said in the post-match interview after he was adjudged ‘Man of the Match’.
Rise in the domestic circuit
20-year-old, Smeed, had starred for Somerset in the T20 Blast, England's domestic T20 competition. He averaged 32.08 in the Blast as he scored 385 runs.
For Birmingham Phoenix, he scored 166 runs at an average of 33.20 in 'The Hundred'- another premier competition in England's domestic circuit. As a result, he was picked by the Abu Dhabi T10 league side Bangla Tigers.
Breaking Kevin Pietersen's record
PSL has been Smeed's first international premier T20 competition and he has certainly made himself proud by breaking Pietersen's record in the league. His 97-run knock is also the highest for any player below the age of 21 in PSL.
Previously, Haider Ali held the record after he scored 69 runs off 43 against Lahore Qalandars in the 2020 edition of the PSL.
