Sharjah: Karachi Kings’ Colin Ingram, who snapped Quetta Gladiators’ run of four consecutive victories in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), said he was not focusing on getting his century, but was aiming to bring his team close to the target.
Answering a query from Gulf News as to at what stage did he thought he could record a century during the six-wicket victory, Ingram said: “To be honest, I wasn’t thinking of my own scores, I was just looking at the runs and balls and trying to squash those and trying to come close and close. Probably at a stage when [Mohammad] Nawaz was bowling, I thought that this is good time to take it on and fortunately it came off and that got the momentum going.”
The South African batsman hit three consecutive sixes and a boundary off Nawaz, who bowled the 14th over as Karachi chased Quetta’s impressive total of 186 for five with eight balls to spare.
Ingram’s unbeaten 127 came off just 59 balls with 12 boundaries and eight sixes. The 33-year-old’s knock is now the highest individual score in PSL, surpassing Sharjeel Khan’s 117 in the 2016 edition for Islamabad Untied against Peshawar Zalmi. Ingram is also the first overseas player to score a century in the league.
Although Ingram is a household name in the T20 leagues across the world, with many franchises snapping him quickly, the South African selectors have turned a blind eye towards him after falling out of favour since 2013. A disappointed Ingram left South Africa and moved to UK and joined Glamorgan county.
“Leaving South Africa for the UK was a difficult decision to make,” he said. “I left South Africa for about four-and-a-half years ago. I always told them that my ‘phone is on’ but it has never really rung. I have been playing for Glamorgan and I am really enjoying it. I think there are good Twenty20 leagues to go to, so I am playing in those. Personally, I have moved on and moved into a different bracket of my life. I am fortunate to spend time with my family, the family is fortunate to travel with me a lot.”
Ingram’s ability to stay cool and produce big hits under pressure has been his hallmark. He owes those skills to his father, who taught him how to counter pressure. “My dad used to tell me as a kid ‘it’s never a good time to panic’ in such situations. So, I suppose just try to stay calm and fortunately a few options that I took early on worked and got me boundaries and that sort of got me rolling.”
Ingram also revealed that having played in the T10 tournament in Sharjah helped him. “I am fortunate to have played at this ground before in T10, so when I was 80 off 40, I felt it is similar to how I played before. I always knew we could probably get home from there.”
Brief scores:
Karachi Kings bt Quetta Gladiators by six wickets. Quetta Gladiators 186-5 in 20 overs (Akmal 55, Rossouw 44; Yamin 3-37) Karachi Kings 188-4 in 18.4 overs (Ingram 127 not out, Tanvir 2-21).
