PSL8: Karachi Kings out of playoff race
Islamabad United defeated Karachi Kings by six wickets
Karachi Kings is officially out of PSL 8 playoff race!
In the 19th match of the eighth edition of the Pakistan Super League played at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Azam Khan’s aggressive batting helped Islamabad United defeat Karachi Kings by 6 wickets, ending all their hopes of reaching the playoffs.
💔#YehHaiKarachi | #IUvKK | #HBLPSL8 pic.twitter.com/3ydhlNZoKl
— Karachi Kings (@KarachiKingsARY) March 3, 2023
While chasing a target of 202 runs, IU’s Azam Khan went not out on 72 runs in 41 balls, helping his side reach home in 19.2 overs.
After deciding to bat first, the Karachi Kings team suffered a big loss in the form of Sharjeel Khan early.
Sharjeel Khan (8), who made a comeback to the side, was the first to be dismissed after being cleaned up by Rumman Raees.
But after that Tayyab Tahir and Adam Rossington took the offensive and took their team to a total of 49 runs before five overs but at this stage, Tom Curran ended young Tayyab’s innings of 19 runs.
Adam Rossington was dismissed after mistiming a slower ball from Hasan Ali, after scoring 20 runs in 16 balls.
Shoaib Malik once again did not help the team at a difficult time and Faheem Ashraf bowled him out to give his team their fourth wicket.
The Kings’ skipper took control of the innings, for the fifth wicket with Irfan Khan.
Imad played an unbeaten inning of 92 runs off 52 balls with the help of 11 fours and two sixes, thanks to which Karachi Kings scored 201 runs for the loss of five wickets in the allotted overs.
Chasing the target, Colin Munro hit Mohammad Amir for a four and a six in the first over and then went on to give him a wicket in the same over.
Then came Rossy van der Dusen to support Alex Hales and the duo put on a partnership of 50 runs, batting at a run rate of 10, but the real blow to United came when Hales, who scored 34 runs, was followed by South Africa’s Dusen returned to the pavilion.
With three wickets down for 69 runs, United looked in trouble and at this stage, Azam Khan came on to support Faheem Ashraf, who was sent in to bat at the top of the order.
Azam, who batted well against Quetta Gladiators in the past few days, was again in the same form today and kept his nerves under control in difficult times and hit all the bowlers of Karachi Kings hard.
Faheem Ashraf scored 41 runs off 32 balls with the help of two sixes and a four, but his innings came to an end as a result of a misunderstanding between the wickets just a few runs short of reaching the target.
In the last over, Islamabad United needed 8 runs to win but the new batsman Asif Ali hit a six and a four to help his team win.
Azam Khan played unbeaten innings of 72 runs off 41 balls with the help of 8 fours and 4 sixes.
Muhammad Amir, Aamir Yamin and Tabriz Shamsi took one wicket each for Karachi Kings.
Playing IX:
Islamabad United: Colin Munro, Alex Hales, Rassie van der Dussen, Shadab Khan (c), Azam Khan (wk), Asif Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Tom Curran, Hasan Ali, Mubasir Khan, Rumman Raees
Karachi Kings: Matthew Wade, Adam Rossington (wk), Sharjeel Khan, Tayyab Tahir, Shoaib Malik, Irfan Khan, Imad Wasim (c), Aamer Yamin, Mohammad Amir, Andrew Tye, Tabraiz Shamsi
