A superb all-around bowling performance by the Karachi Kings helped them defeat defending champions Peshawar Zalmi by five wickets in their Pakistan Super League 2018 fixture in Dubai on Sunday.
Zalmi won the toss, deciding to bat first as openers Kamran Akmal and Tamim Iqbal arrived at the crease. Akmal two boundaries and a maximum in the opening over by Imad Wasim before Mohammad Amir dismissed him in the second over.
Amir struck again in his second over, this time getting Iqbal to nick one back to the keeper.
Mohammad Hafeez versus Amir is always a fun watch, and this time it was the latter who drew first blood, smacking the southpaw for a sweet four.
Former Zalmi man, Shahid Afridi, avenged his new teammate by removing Hafeez in the seventh over.
Dwayne Smith smacked a few but two more wickets fell as the Kings tightened their grip on the game.
Umaid Asif, Zalmi’s hero yesterday, struck Afridi for a six but the wily veteran had his revenge, trapping Asif in front of the wickets. Here’s that sequence:
Having been involved in two of his teammates’ run-outs, it was Smith’s responsibility to bat till the end, and that he did, although even with his efforts the defending champions finished with just 131 runs on the board for the loss of 9 wickets.
In reply, Khurram Manzoor and Joe Denly opened the batting for the Kings but their partnership didn’t last too long as the former was caught at third man by young Ibtisam Sheikh.
The 19-year-old added to the brilliant catch he had grasped a day earlier. This one was of a different variety but was equally brilliant.
Sheikh, 19 and supremely talented, was everywhere as, when given the ball, he had the dangerous Babar Azam (28) caught.
The bespectacled leggie, however, got his length wrong a few times and was punished by Colin Ingram.
He did get his revenge though.
Before Sheikh sent Ingram packing, Denly had also departed but the 132-run target was never going to be enough for Zalmi to defend.
