Cutting ready to play key role for Gladiators

KARACHI: Quetta Gladiators’ Australian all-rounder Ben Cutting on Wednesday said that he was ready to play a key role in his team’s Pakistan Super League (PSL) bid.

“Yes, I am ready to play a role in Quetta Gladiators’ campaign,” the 33-year old Queensland-born international all-rounder told reporters here after a practise session at the Hanif Mohammad High Performance Centre inside the National Stadium.

Defending champions Gladiators will meet two-time winners Islamabad United in the PSL-5 opener here at National Stadium on Thursday. Ben Cutting bowled superbly in the nets, beating the batsmen several times. He is regarded as a dangerous allrounder and is expected to play a key role for Gladiators in both batting and bowling.

Cutting has played four ODIs and seven T20 Internationals for Australia. Gladiators will rely on their pace battery which includes Sohail Khan, Tymal Mills, Naseem Shah and Mohammad Hasnain.

“Unlike in Australia where bowlers get both bounce and swing, in Pakistan pitches are different and here if you bowl with tight line and length and with variation it helps,” Cutting observed. This is the second time that Cutting is playing in the PSL. He took part in the event in 2017.

“I have played 15 matches this year, also played in Big Bash and performed well,” Cutting said. Meanwhile, Hasnain told reporters that he would try his best to become the best bowler of the PSL-5. “I will do my best to perform for my team and it is my desire to become the best bowler of the event,” Hasnain said.

He added that Gladiators’ fast bowling was great and would put the opponents in trouble. Hasnain bowled a few overs in the nets on Wednesday. However, he overstepped many times. When this correspondent asked him why he was overstepping, he said he did not. Bowling coach Abdul Razzaq was monitoring the bowling session.