Jason Roy, a top-order batsman for the Quetta Gladiators, described his game-winning and record-breaking 145 off 63 against Peshawar Zalmi as his favourite ever innings and one he’ll cherish forever.
With 10 balls left, Roy helped Quetta chase down the 241-run mark by smashing five sixes and launching 20 smashes over the fence.
After the game, when speaking with the media, Roy claimed that he had no fear of failing, which had undoubtedly helped him play the innings.
“We realised that in order to win decisively, we had to do so exceedingly convincingly, and we knew that chasing the 240 total was probably out of the question. I walked out there and it was simply one of those things; you need to pad up and all the fear of failing goes out the window. And convincingly, I mean, in 13, or 14 overs.”
“You simply go outside and have a great time. It was fantastic on that wicket with that crowd as we strolled out there quite calmly, feeling no pressure at all, he remarked.
No matter how simple and accommodating the wicket is, the English player claimed that chasing a total of more than 200 is always remarkable. The innings was one of his favourites, he said.
“I was there all the way to the conclusion, so that ranks among my favourite innings ever. Being the opening batsman in limited overs, I believe that a lot of the time I score 100 runs, get out, and they need about 20 more runs. As an opening batter, however, I was there all the way through tonight, which is an amazing feeling. This will undoubtedly rank among my best accomplishments, he remarked.
“This is without a doubt my finest tale inning to date. It was simply a matter of hitting as many fours and sixes as you could to get near to the total and then assess our progress. But my favourite innings will undoubtedly live on in my memories for a very long time,” the top-order batter declared.
After participating in the first five games, Roy was forced to depart for national service. He later rejoined the Gladiators for the ninth game. On March 3, Roy, who was travelling with the English team to Bangladesh, got a century in an ODI.
On March 6, he played his final game in Bangladesh. On March 8, he travelled to Islamabad and played the game that evening.
“My flight was pretty difficult. A couple hiccups and other things happened; we arrived this morning at at 7:30am. I’m therefore completely worn out. I may not get any sleep for a while, but I feel great and like I’m on top of the world. I’ve had around three or four Red Bulls and two coffees.
Before departing for Bangladesh to join England’s ODI team, Roy was unable to score significantly more runs for Gladiators throughout the first half of the competition.
When questioned about how he did in the first part of the competition, he replied that he was being too tentative early.
“I believe that the key is to play fearlessly. I was forced to go outside and simply mock it. And perhaps I was being a little too cautious, worried a little too much, and putting a little too much pressure on myself as the opening batsman for this team in the past games, he said.
In response to a query, Roy stated that the term “amazing” best describes Wednesday’s game between Zalmi and Gladiators.
“It’s a fantastic advertisement for T20 Cricket and the PSL. It goes without saying that bowlers don’t want to show up and play on these wickets every single time. It was seeing games like this when I was a child that first got me interested in sports. And without a doubt, this is the kind of content that attracts the upcoming generation of athletes, he added.
While it was against Roy’s team, the top-order England batsman hailed Babar Azam’s batting and said it was an honour to witness Babar make a century.
“Watching that was fantastic. I’ve seen much of this on television before. It was very unique the way he played and witnessed it firsthand. It’s amazing to see him play. To watch Babar in person was particularly unique because he stood up incredibly well from the other end with his opening partner coming through, the speaker remarked.
It made for an amazing game of cricket and one that I’ll undoubtedly remember for the rest of my life, but he could have done with getting a little less to make it a little easier for us, he said.
