LAHORE: Quetta Gladiators’ Jason Roy has termed his 145 not out against Peshawar Zalmi as his best T20 innings, adding it was also a great advert for the HBL Pakistan Super League.

Roy clobbered 20 fours and five sixes in a 63-ball blitz as the Gladiators chased down an improbable 241 for the loss of two wickets with 10 balls to spare to keep his side’s slim chances of qualifying for the play-offs alive.

“It was a great advert for the HBL PSL and T20 cricket. Obviously, bowlers don’t want to be turning up and playing on these wickets every single game, but people and kids are watching and loving this sort of a game,” Roy said, adding: “This is the sort of game I remember as a kid that really drew me to cricket and the people. For sure, this is the sort of stuff that excites, draws and attracts the next generation of players.”

Roy became the highest individual scorer in HBL PSL, beating Colin Ingram’s 127 not out for Karachi Kings against Quetta Gladiators in 2019, as the Gladiators completed the fourth-highest T20 chase of all time. Roy’s 44-ball century was the second quickest in HBL PSL history after Rilee Rossouw’s 43-ball century for Multan Sultans against Quetta Gladiators in 2020.

Roy said, “It’s an incredible, incredible feeling. For me in T20 cricket, it’s up there as one of my favourite innings ever because I was there till the end. A lot of the times when I’ve batted in limited overs as an opening batter, I have scored a 100 and then I got out with 20 or so runs still required. But tonight, I was there till the end, which is an incredible feeling as an opening batter. Definitely this innings will live in my memory for a long time.”

Roy said, “It has been a tough season for us and we’ve not been able to put together the performances we would have wanted to, but we’ve got a great group of people and they do a lot for me. So, I’m just really pleased I was able put a performance together to put some smiles on their faces.”

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