RAWALPINDI: On Thursday at the Pindi Cricket Stadium, Karachi Kings and Islamabad United faced off in the most significant HBL Pakistan Super League match to date, raising the stakes considerably.
Before the match, the two teams were separated by just one point. United was trying to hold onto the fourth spot in the league stage rankings, which the Kings had their sights set on. Islamabad was in fourth place.
After their hitters struggled to put 150-7 on the board, they were forced to battle it out on a track that made it easier for the Karachi bowlers to pose questions.
Islamabad adopted a cautious approach despite having a modest target to chase, persevering through brief setbacks to cross the finish line with five wickets remaining.
Following the early loss of their seasoned opening duo of Colin Munro and Alex Hales, Islamabad was salvaged by captain Shadab Khan and Salman Ali Agha, and were eventually defeated by Haider Ali’s late assault.
Karachi’s chances of qualifying for the playoffs were once again eliminated following their losses against Lahore Qalandars and Peshawar Zalmi. In the meantime, Islamabad moved up to the second spot in the rankings.
Islamabad did not have a great start as Mir Hamza, the pacer, kept posing problems for Hales and Munro with his subtle adjustments in length and line. Hamza was able to take advantage of both of the ordinarily deadly power-hitters who were unable to connect for boundaries during the powerplay.
Munro, on the other hand, found Karachi captain Shan Masood at long-on as the left-armer forced a leading edge off his bat. Munro was bewildered against Hamza.
However, Hales missed a slower one that caused his stumps to come off, and United managed to reach 47-2 in the opening six overs.
Shadab and Salman batted steadily, mostly going for singles and doubles, to push the team to 78-2 at the midway point. They did this because they understood the value of wickets in this circumstances and since the pitch was helping the bowlers.
In the 12th over, Salman glided down the ground and lifted the left-arm spin of Mohammad Nawaz over long-on, bringing himself and Shadab’s partnership to fifty runs.
Salman (33 off30) attempted a big, reckless drive off bowler Blessing Muzarabani’s following delivery, but despite his composure and maturity, it flew off his outside edge and into Tim Seifert’s gloves behind the wickets.
In the 15th over, when Islamabad required 40 from 34 balls, leg-spinner Zahid Mahmood made Karachi’s chances brighter by dismissing Azam Khan off his own bowling.
When Hamza came back to lash one across Shadab (34 off 26) to catch the right-hander’s gloves and force another caught behind dismissal, things were more problematic for Islamabad.
However, the required equation was reduced to run-a-ball when Faheem Ashraf arrived and misplayed a delivery by Hamza over square-leg for a stunning six on the following ball.
Islamabad mainly relied on running till Haider (26 not out off 16) hit speedster Hasan Ali for a four and a six to end the match in the 19th over.
Earlier put to bat, Karachi got off to a sluggish start and managed just 38 runs in the powerplay, during which Shan was dismissed cheaply off Faheem. After smashing five boundaries for 26 runs with his opening partner Seifert, the pacer went on to dismiss him in the seventh over.
In the ninth over, Shadab Khan made an outstanding catch when Shoaib Malik misplayed a skier off Imad Wasim’s left-arm spin, putting Karachi in even more danger. The second man out was Mohammad Nawaz, the left-hander finding Munro at deep square-leg after he was caught by a rising bounder from Tymal Mills.
After Pollard struck first with a smart move for four off Mills, Karachi was trailing 66-4 at the break.
After hitting Shadab over deep midwicket for six in the eleventh over and then again over long off for maximums, the former West Indies all-rounder applied further pressure to Islamabad.
James Vince appeared to be gaining confidence as he smashed Mills for three straight boundaries in the 14th over, but he was caught behind on the fourth ball despite adding 29 off 27 to the total while watching Pollard from the opposite end.
Once again, Vince’s wicket choked down the run flow, and in the eighteenth over, Pollard (39 off 28) gave way under strain and became Hunain Shah’s maiden wicket. From then on, Karachi was unable to recover and had to drag themselves to what turned out to be a pitiful sum.
