Karachi Kings suffered a painful five-wicket home defeat to Quetta Gladiators in Match 6 of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2020 at the National Stadium on Sunday (February 24).
The Kings, batting first after winning the toss, managed to post only a modest total of 156/9 on the board despite batting their full quota of overs, as Alex Hales (29), Babar Azam (26), Cameron Delport (22) and Iftikhar Ahmed (25) made twenties but no one played a substantial knock that would've propelled the side to a defendable score.
Mohammad Hasnain (3/33), Tymal Mills (2/30) got the breakthroughs for Gladiators, who also had Sohail Khan (1/24), Naseem Shah (0/23) delivering economical spells.
In the run-chase, openers Jason Roy (17) and Shane Watson (27) got the Gladiators off to a decent start before middle-order batsmen skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed (37*) and Azam Khan (46) helped their team comfortably reach home.
Imad Wasim (1/20), the captain of Karachi Kings, bowled well from one end but his team never had enough runs to play with.
Brief Scores:
Karachi Kings 156/9 in 20 overs (Alex Hales 29; Mohammad Hasnain 3/33) lost to Quetta Gladiators 157/5 in 19 overs (Azam Khan 46; Imad Wasim 1/20) by five wickets
In the second game of the double-header day, Islamabad United defeated Lahore Qalandars in a closely-fought high-scoring encounter by one wicket at the Gaddafi Stadium.
Qalandars, put into bat after losing the toss, were propelled to a huge score of 182/6 by Mohammad Hafeez (98*), who, after opener Fakhar (33) laid a decent foundation for his team, played an outstanding 57-ball unbeaten knock, glint with seven fours and seven sixes.
For Islamabad, skipper Shadab Khan (2/14) bowled a fine spell but the leg-spinner was let down massively by the rest of the bowling attack.
In the run-chase also, Shadab led his team from the front, making a blistering half-century (52), which not only ensured the team recovers from the early hiccups in the innings but also move ahead of the asking rate.
Either side of Shadab, Dawid Malan (22) and Colin Ingram (30) also contributed in the middle-order.
And even though Shaheen Afridi (4/18) once again got the Qalandars back with a late burst, United's lower-order came to the rescue, with Muhammad Musa (17*) and Ahmed Safi Abdullah (8) eventually taking their team past the finish line.
Brief Scores:
Lahore Qalandars 182/6 in 20 overs (Mohammad Hafeez 98*; Shadab Khan 2/14) lost to Islamabad United 183/9 in 19.5 overs (Shadab Khan 52; Shaheen Afridi 4/18) by one wicket
