Sharjah: The Pakistan Super League (PSL) will have a new champion.
Karachi Kings’ Imad Wasim, who wrecked Islamabad United’s batting line-up on Wednesday night at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium with a deadly three-wicket spell to bag the man of the match award, has now warned Peshawar Zalmi, their opponents in the third and final qualifying round at the Dubai International Stadium on Friday.
“We are peaking, the way we won against Lahore (off the last ball on February 25) lifted us. If you win one or two matches like this then you get a lift and team combination becomes good,” remarked the slow left-arm spinner after his team’s emphatic 44 runs victory.
Twenty-eight-year-old Imad plays with such confidence that when asked if he believed if his team could beat Islamabad, he said: “If you don’t believe that you can win then there is no point. Whatever is the total you have to defend it and give it a shot as the result is not in your hands. We knew that if the total is 127 then we have to bowl them out and then we fielded and bowled well and since our captaincy was also so good, we won.”
Imad took the prize wickets of Islamabad skipper Misbah Ul Haq, Shane Watson and West Indies Nicholas Pooran at a crucial stages and explained how his team planned to shock Islamabad. “We needed wickets because we couldn’t have restricted them since they have a good team, so we knew we have to get them all out. Hence to give 100 per cent was the only way out. The wicket was on the low side and we were 20-30 runs short but still the way we won by this margin was great.”
Karachi skipper Kumar Sangakkara inspired the team with a flying catch to dismiss the dangerous Dwayne Smith. “In such a game if you drop a catch or take a brilliant catch it will have an impact on the team. He (Sangakkara) took a brilliant catch and that lifted us. Then (Mohammad) Amir, Usama (Mir) and I bowled well which was great.”
Sangakkara was delighted about his catch and then lauded his players for having taken on the challenge.
“It is that kind of a catch that has to stick and I was lucky. It was a good way to start as Smith is an important player. I was surprised that I caught it. It was a 150-run pitch. The tone was set in the first few overs and then Imad and Usama were brilliant. We had to bowl straight with slight variations. Imad bowled marvellously and so did Usama.”
Talking about the next match, Sangakkara said: “We need to bat longer and stop run-outs. Every game is a do-or-die match. My team showed a lot of emotions. I’m proud of my team.”
Imad’s advantage was that he could use the wicket to his liking. “The wicket was not like what we thought, it was skidding in the first half and keeping low, like the ball was not coming on to the bat, when we had 100 in 15 overs then we should have totalled 145, but even then we did well.”
Imad ducked the question on whether the foreign players in his team will go to Lahore if they reach the final. “We need to win the next game. Peshawar is also good so you never know whether you can win or not. It’s a do or die game and only after that we will know what to do.”
Brief scores:
Karachi Kings bt Islamabad United by 44 runs. Karachi Kings 126 in 19.4 overs (Babar Azam 25, Shoaib Malek 25, Mohammad Sami 2 for 19, Rumman Raees 4 for 25, Shane Watson 2 for 29) Islamabad United 82 in 15.2 overs (Asif Ali 39, Mohmamad Amir 3 for 7, Imad Wasim 3 for 18, Usama Mir 3 for 24) Man of the match: Imad Wasim.
