DUBAI: Shahid Afridi’s three wickets for 19 runs gave a 27-run victory to the Karachi Kings against Lahore Qalandars in the highly-charged match held at the Dubai International Stadium.
Courtesy late-hitting by Ravi Bopara, Karachi Kings scored a fighting total of 160 runs against Lahore Qalandars in the highly-charged match being held at the Dubai International Stadium.
Sunil Narine was the first to be dismissed by the Kings as he gave an outside edge to the wicket-keeper Muhammad Rizwan.
A brilliant catch by Ravi Bopara ended opener Fakhar Zaman’s stay at the crease.
A failed reverse sweep by skipper McCullum costed the skipper his wicket on the ball of Imad Wasim. He departed after scoring 44 runs.
Umar Akmal (6) failed to anchor the innings built by skipper McCullum, he was stumped on the ball of Afridi.
Afridi took his third wicket of the match as middle-order batsman Sohail Akhtar returned after giving a catch to the long-on fielder.
Shinwari took his second wicket of Agha Salman after scoring just 15 runs.
Kings overpowered Qalandars in the start of the match as in just 14 balls Joe Denly scored five boundaries and a six. Things were turning usual for Qalandars until a breakthrough given by Yasir Shah. Denly departed on a score of 28 runs.
On the very next ball, Mustafizur Rahman turned the odds in favour of Qalandars, with the lbw wicket of in-form batsman Babar Azam. The Pakistani middle order batsman was dismissed for a duck.
Khurram Manzoor was next to go. On the score of eight runs, he was caught by Umar Akmal on the mid-on, on the bowl of Sunil Narine. A wild slog which didnt even clear infield.
A terrific volleyball catch by Umar Akmal assisted by Shaheen Afridi at the long-on ended Ingram’s inning. A sight which won’t be forgotten.
The next to depart was Muhammad Rizwan, who edged the carrom ball, bowled by Narine to skipper Brendon McCullum at the first slip.
A catch and bowled by Sohail Khan ended Imad Wasim’s time on the crease.
Sohail Khan got the prize wicket of Shahid Afridi on the very next after getting hit for a six.
Qalandars, still searching for their first win of this season, are meeting Karachi Kings in an epic rivalry.
After finishing at the bottom of the table in both the previous editions of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), Lahore kicked off this season determined to end their losing streak. However, the nightmare continued as Multan Sultans beat them by 43 runs and Quetta Gladiators outclassed them by 9 wickets.
Karachi Kings, who revamped their squad this year, had a flying start to their PSL campaign with a 19-run win over Quetta Gladiators and a 5-wicket win over Peshawar Zalmi.
Qalandars made three changes in their squad tonight.
Gulraiz Sadaf, Raza Hasan and Cameron Delport have been dropped as Sohail Khan, Denesh Ramdin and Agha Salman have made their place in the final playing-11. Meanwhile, on the other hand, Usman Khan Shinwari replaced Muhammad Amir for the Kings. – Agencies
