Karachi Kings thrashes Islamabad United, qualify for semi-final

KARACHI (92 News) – Karachi Kings qualified for the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2020 semi-finals by thrashing the previous two-time champions Islamabad United from the tournament with a four-wicket win at National Stadium. Karachi Kings ousted the Islamabad United and closed the door of for United who had won the inaugural PSL in 2016 at Dubai. Chasing a somewhat moderate target of 137, Karachi Kings got over the line with four balls to spare when Umaid Asif slammed Rumman Raees Khan to the mid-off fence. Karachi’s fifth triumph carried their tally of points to 11, while Islamabad bowed out after crashing to a sixth defeat from 10 fixtures. Kings hardly allowed United the liberty to free their arms from the onset. Shadab Khan reckoned at the toss he would have batted anyway if the toss went his way. But probably the young skipper didn’t expect United to muster 136-6 — the lowest total recorded in PSL V during a completed innings at this venue since Quetta Gladiators made 148-5 in another losing cause against Peshawar Zalmi exactly three weeks ago. This is where Islamabad sorely missed the power-hitting element that the likes of Luke Ronchi and his fellow New Zealander, Colin Munro, would have surely provided had they not opted to skip the rest of the tournament on Friday. Phil Salt — the forced induction in the wake of exodus who never managed to break into the XI in the previous nine games for Islamabad United — looked in decent touch despite playing after spending six weeks on the sidelines. The 28-year-old right-hander struck the solitary six of the innings by hoisting Kings captain Imad Wasim over the long-on boundary. But upon reaching 25 off 19 deliveries, Salt was dismissed by Imad to leave Islamabad United struggling at 59-2. Earlier on Rizwan Hussain played and missed until his luck ran out against seamer Umaid Asif with the left-hander scoring a 14-ball 17. Karachi Kings, in response, launched their chase in the most belligerent imaginable fashion when Sharjeel Khan top-edged the first delivery from Mohammad Musa Khan over the fine leg fence and struck two fours from four balls before finishing an eventful over by pulling the young paceman for another six. Sharjeel, who collected his second man-of-the-match award across three nights, then repeated the dose by depositing slow left-armer Zafar Gohar for consecutive leg-side sixes but found himself trapped LBW for a 14-ball cameo of 37 to young left-arm seamer Akif Javed. His dismissal didn’t matter as Karachi had ratted 60 after five overs. However, the next lot of five overs saw a miserly 15 runs scored, while Musa, who had gone for 20 in his opening over, forced Babar Azam (19 off 20 balls, three fours) to play onto his stumps before ending his four-over stint with creditable figures of 1-24 despite taking a fearful blow on his ankle. Squads Karachi Kings: Imad Wasim (captain), Babar Azam, Mohammad Amir, Iftikhar Ahmed, Aamir Yamin, Usama Mir, Umer Khan, Chris Jordan, Sharjeel Khan, Cameron Delport, Mohammad Rizwan, Umaid Asif, Chadwick Walton, Ali Khan, Arshad Iqbal, Mitch McClenaghan, Awais Zia Islamabad United: Shadab Khan (captain), Faheem Ashraf, Asif Ali, Luke Ronchi, Hussain Talat, Amad Butt, Musa Khan, Dale Steyn, Colin Ingram, Colin Munro, Rumman Raees, Rizwan Hussain, Phil Salt, Zafar Gohar, Akif Javed, Ahmed Safi Abdullah, Saif Badar, Dawid Malan