Sharjah. Riding on Shoaib Malek’s unbeaten 51 and Babar Azam’s quick 46, Karachi Kings registered their second win by stopping Peshawar Zalmi by nine runs in the Pakistan Super League at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
Shahid Afridi’s fighting knock of 54 off 28 balls with three boundaries and five sixes went in vain for Peshawar. Skipper Darren Sammy too chipped in 34 but could not help the team to the target.
Sohail Khan and Usman Khan bowled brilliantly to take three wickets each, backed by Usama Mir with two wickets, to bowl out Peshawar for 165 in 19.5 overs.
Peshawar won the toss and elected to bowl first. Opener Babar Azam started aggressively.
He hit Hasan Ali for two consecutive boundaries in the first over and in the second over hit Wahab Riaz for a straight boundary and also pulled him for a six over mid-wicket.
When Shakib Al Hasan was introduced, he hit the first ball to mid-wicket boundary.
So brilliant was Azam that his skipper and opening partner Kumar Sangakkara played second fiddle.
By the fifth over, 45 runs were scored and Azam scored 39 with Sangakkara only on 7. From the seventh over Sangakkara began to open out. He scored three consecutive boundaries off Sammy.
Azam fell in the ninth over to Shakib Al Hasan, caught by Hasan Ali at long on for 46. His knock off 36 balls contained six boundaries and a six.
Sangakkara also fell in the 11th over stepping out to Iftikhar Ahmad and hitting straight to Hasan at long off for 28.
This brought in Chris Gayle and Shoaib Malek together. Gayle hit Shahid Afridi over long off for a six but Iftikhar Ahmad had him caught by Eoin Morgan for 11 at long on boundary.
Morgan lost his balance while taking the catch, but managed to throw the ball up, cross the rope and come back to complete the dismissal.
Ravi Bopara hit a quick 30 runs before he fell to Imran Khan playing into the hands of Sohaib Maqsood at backward point. He added 44 runs in 4.4 overs with Shoaib Malek.
In the 18th over, Malek hit Hasan Ali for two boundaries and a six. He continued to hit sixes of Imran Khan and Wahab Riaz and reach his half century off the last ball of the innings. Karachi innings ended at 174 for 4 in 20 overs with 61 runs being scored off the last five overs.
Chasing a run rate of 8.70 per over, Tamim Iqbal and Kamran Akmal went for their shots. Akmal hit Imad Wasim for two boundaries and a six in the third over. In the fourth over, Sohail Khan struck twice to dismiss Akmal and Iqbal.
Akmal on 14 hit Khan to Bopara at deep backward square leg and Iqbal on 16 edged to wicketkeeper Sangakkara. Sohail Khan also produced a maiden over in the sixth over.
Shoaib Malek dismissed Eoin Morgan for 3 by having him caught by Bopara at wide long-on. Wickets kept falling at regular intervals.
Sohaib Maqsood lasted just five balls to score five runs before Kieron Pollard caught him at the edge of long-on boundary off Usman Khan.
Shakib Al Hasan too fell for 18 hitting straight to Bopara at long to give Usman his second wicket.
Shahid Afridi began by hitting two sixes off Mohammad Amir in one over. In the last 30 balls, Peshawar needed 71 runs.
Afridi hit the first ball of the 16th over from Sohail Khan for a six over mid-wicket but he bowled the rest of the five balls tightly giving only a total of eight runs.
Sammy hit Mohammad Amir for a six and a boundary off successive balls in the 17th over. Still 50 runs were needed from the last 18 balls.
Sammy and Afridi hit sixes off Sohail Khan in the 18th over but Sammy perished in the same over pulling on to the chest of Gayle at short fine leg for 34.
So powerful was the hit that after taking the rebound catch, Gayle was seen rubbing his chest in pain. Next man Wahab Riaz quickly followed for 2 giving Usman Khan his third wicket.
In the last over, Peshawar needed 18 runs and Afridi fell to the second last ball of the innings to Usama Mir.
Brief scores
Karachi Kings bt Peshawar Zalmi by 9 runs. Karachi Kings 174 for 4 in 20 overs (Babar Azam 46, Kumar Sangakkara 28, Shoaib Malek 51n.o, Ravi Bopara 30, Iftikhar Ahmad 2 for 8) Peshwar Zalmi 165 in 19.5 overs (Darren Sammy 34, Shahid Afridi 54, Sohail Khan 3 for 28, Usman Khan 3 for 32, Usama Mir 2 for 28).
