Shinwari, Afridi secure Karachi Kings playoff spot
Karachi Kings beat Islamabad United by seven wickets to finish second in PSL 3 points table.
SHARJAH (Dunya News) – Usman Khan Shinwari and Shahid Afridi helped Karachi Kings to register an easy seven-wicket win over Islamabad United in Sharjah on Friday to secure a place in the Pakistan Super League 2018 playoffs.
By finishing in the top two, Karachi Kings have earned the right to have two shots at the final. Multan Sultans, who were on top of the league standings at the halfway mark, along with Lahore Qalandar are out.
Islamabad United will play Karachi Kings in Qualifier-1 again on 18th. The winner goes through to the final. The loser will play the winner between Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators that is set to take place in Lahore on Tuesday.
Winning the toss and electing to field first, Karachi Kings bowlers did not allow Islamabad United batmen to settle as wickets fell at regular intervals. Islamabad who have decided to rest their key performers, Luke Ronchi, Samit Patel and Mohammad Sami, for the match were bundled out for 124 runs in 19 overs.
Asif Ali (34), Walton (21) and Misbah-ul-Haq (19) were the main run-getters for the Islamabad who had already qualified for playoffs. Usman Shinwari bowled superbly for the Karachi Kings and picked up four wickets for just 17 runs while Shaid Afridi and Irfan Junior claimed two wickets each.
Karachi Kings needed to score just 109 runs to ensure safe passage into the playoffs, but they comfortably chased the target by losing just three wickets with 18 balls to spare.
Intelligent batting from Joe Denly (36), Khurram Manzoor (15), Babar Azam (29*) and Colin Ingram (31*) helped Karachi Kings to finish second on the points table.
