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Gladiators beat Kings, strengthen position top of PSL points table

Dunya News

Karachi Kings won the toss, batted first, gave 127-run target, lost by 5 wickets, 7 balls to spare

(Web Desk) - Karachi Kings won the toss and elected to bat first. They scored 126 runs for the loss of 9 wickets off their allotted 20 overs and gave a relatively easier target to Quetta Gladiators to chase. Gladiators never looked like missing the target from the very beginning as Ahmed Shehzad, initially, and Sarfraz Ahmed, later, steered them to an easy victory against the Kings who have won only two games in the tournament so far, and both against Lahore Qalandars.

HIGHLIGHTS

Quetta Gladiators innings

Quetta Gladiators started off cautiously with Ahmed Shehzad and Luke Wright taking no risks in the beginning. Gladiators kept taking the singles with occasional boundaries and thus kept the scoreboard ticking till the departure of Luke Wright who was caught at backward point by Mir Hamza off Imad Wasim s bowling. Gladiators were 33 for 1.

However, Ahmed Shehzad didn t lose the focus and sent Shakib al Hasan for three boundaries in the next over, taking the score to 47 for 1 at the end of the 6th over, and the powerplay.

Pitersen also joined the party on the last ball of the 8th over when he sent Imad Wasim for a massive six over the Long Off boundary. But Usama Mir took Ahmed Shehzad the very next ball as the Pakistan opener walked across the wickets and ended up being bowled around his legs by the leg-spinner.

Things didn t change much for Kings even after this wicket though. Sarfraz joined Pietersen in the middle and after staying relatively quiet for nearly 11 balls, Pietersen launched Usama Mir s first ball of the 11th over over the Long On boundary for a massive six.

In the 13th over though, Usama got his man. Kevin Pietersen chased a delivery that pitched outside off and moved further away and ended up managing only to edge towards the first slip where Sohail Tanvir took a brilliant catch diving to his right.

It really was a brilliant catch.

The Gladiators lost the tempo a bit after Pietersen s departure as they could score only 4 runs in the next 9 balls and on the 10th ball, Shakib also got Elliott plumb in front and was given LBW and the Gladiators suddenly found themselves 103 for 4 and still 24 runs short of the target in the 15th over. However, Sarfraz kept his cool and kept moving the score towards the target. Some quick runs were taken by him and Mohammad Nawaz and one such run also took Nawaz away when the team was just 10 runs short of the target. Sarfraz went on despite the wickets falling around him and finally saw his team through with 7 balls to spare and it was Anwer Ali who played the winning stroke off Sohail Tanvir s bowling in the 19th over.

Karachi Kings innings

Karachi Kings won the toss on Saturday against Quetta Gladiators and the captain Shoaib Malike decided to bat first. However, the Kings kept losing wickets in regular intervals while the Gladiators  bowlers kept the bowling nice and tight. Fielding was right up to the mark and the Karachi batsmen had to face a tight line and length. Nauman Anwar started the proceedings along with skipper Shoaib Malik but lost his wicket early in the innings to Anwer Ali who knocked his stumps over in the third over of the match. Malik and Vince steered the Kings out of trouble with their 47-run partnership but then Elliott git rid of Vince and Malik was left to build the innings up again along with Shakib al Hasan.

However, Kings were at 86 when Malik also gave in to Mohammad Nabi s temptations and hit one right into Ahmed Shehzad s hands who made no mistakes at the Long On. With 86 for the loss of 3 wickets, the true king of the Kings in this PSL so far, Ravi Bopara, came on to bat and started taking the things forward along with Shakib. But Shakib couldn t take the pressure for too long and finally gave a simple catch to Aizaz Cheema at the sweeper s position after scoring 10 runs off 19 balls.

Ravi Bopara couldn t get going today either. After scoring 14 runs off 17 balls, Bopara also got out trying to chase a slow delivery by Elliott, who fired it Wide and Sarfraz removed the bails before Bopara could come back into the crease. Kings were 111 for 6 but the woes didn t end there. 3 balls later, Zulfiqar Babar was driven back strongly by Mushfiqur Rahim. Babar caught the ball and threw it to non-striker end where Imad Wasim was struggling to get back into the crease. He was run out for just 2 runs off 2 balls.

One the fifth ball of the very same over, Usama Mir was also removed by Zulfiqar Babar. Babar saw him coming down the track and fired it short. Taking Mir by surprise, the arm ball by Zulfiqar Babar skidded into the leg stump and the Kings found themselves 118 for 8.

The last over was bowled by Aizaz Cheema, who has shown his class in the death overs previously as well. Kings were already feeling the pressure after scoring just 2 runs off the first 3 balls and thus Mushfiqur Rahim skied the 4th one and by the time the ball landed, Aizaz Cheema was firmly in place to take a simple catch. Karachi Kings were thus 120 for 9. Scoring 2 off the 5th ball, Sohail Khan smashed the last ball of the innings towards the cover boundary for a 4.

It was a dismal performance in the batting by Karachi Kings. They finally set a target of 127 runs for Quetta Gladiators. Kings have only won two games so far in the tournament, and both against Lahore Qalandars who dropped at least 8 catches during their last encounter with the Kings on Friday. Read here: Karachi Kings beat Lahore Qalandars comprehensively

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Karachi Kings squad:

  • Nauman Anwar
  • Shoaib Malik
  • KM Vince
  • Shakib al Hasan
  • Ravi Bopara
  • Sohail Tanvir
  • Imad Wasim
  • Mushfiqur Rahim†
  • Usama Mir
  • Sohail Khan
  • Mir Hamza

Quetta Gladiators squad:

  • Ahmed Shehzad
  • LJ Wright
  • KP Pietersen
  • GD Elliott
  • Mohammad Nabi
  • Sarfraz Ahmed*†
  • Anwar Ali
  • Mohammad Nawaz
  • Zulfiqar Babar
  • Akbar-ur-Rehman
  • Aizaz Cheema

 

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