Sherfane Rutherford hit an unbeaten half-century and earned a five-wicket win for Quetta Gladiators over a depleted Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League on Thursday.

Rutherford smashed 58 not out off 31 balls with six towering sixes and a match-winning boundary off the final ball as Quetta recovered from a middle-order collapse to chase down 166 for their fourth win in five games.

Karachi couldn’t cash in on James Vince and Tim Seifert’s impactful batting in the powerplay before they got tangled against the Quetta spinners and were restricted to 165 for 8. It was Karachi’s third loss in five games.

Several frontline Karachi players including Mir Hamza, Tabraiz Shamsi and Leus du Plooy missed the game because of a viral infection. Du Plooy was hospitalised.

Legspinner Zahid Mahmood, playing in his first game of the season, and Hasan Ali brought Karachi into the game with two wickets each and Shoaib Malik had the key wicket of half-centurion Jason Roy as Quetta stumbled to 89 for 5 in the 12th over.

But Rutherford led the counterattack – with Akeal Hosein – with his powerful hitting before smashing fast bowler Anwar Ali in the final over. Quetta needed 15 from six balls, and Rutherford’s two sixes off the first two balls tilted the game in their favour.

Earlier, Shan Masood’s below-par first season as Karachi captain continued when he was bowled for 2 by left-arm spinner Hosein in the first over.

Vince smacked eight fours in his whirlwind knock during the power play before spinner Usman Tariq changed the complexion of the game by trapping both Seifert and Vince lbw in his first over.

Abrar Ahmed came back well in his last two overs and got three wickets as Kieron Pollard was bowled by the legspinner in the death overs. Anwar provided a late flurry with an unbeaten 25 that included 20 off Mohammad Wasim’s last over but it was not enough.