Islamabad United Overhauls Mammoth Total to Down Karachi Kings

Karachi, 24th February 2021: In the sixth match of the HBL PSL held at National Stadium Karachi, Islamabad United defeated defending champions Karachi Kings by five wickets after a thrilling contest. Karachi Kings opener Sharjeel Khan’s century and Babar Azam’s half century went in vain. Islamabad United opener Alex Hales was declared man of the match for scoring 46 off 21 balls.

In pursuit of the target, Islamabad United’s innings did not start well and their first two wickets fell to a total of just 13. When captain Shadab Khan and opener Phil Salt returned to the pavilion without scoring a run, English batsman Alex Hales started scoring runs along with all-rounder Faheem Ashraf. Batting at lightning speed, both players formed a partnership of 62 runs. Alex Hales was dismissed for 46 off 21 balls with the help of 8 fours and 1 six. Faheem Ashraf lost his wicket on 25 runs, after which Talat took command of Islamabad United and put up a strong resistance against the bowlers of Karachi Kings.

Both the batsmen batted responsibly and formed a 94-run partnership. Hussain Talat scored 42 runs with the help of four fours and fell LBW on the ball of Muhammad Nabi. Newcomer batsman Asif Ali scored 21 runs off 9 balls with the help of 2 sixes and 1 four. Iftikhar Ahmed remained unbeaten on 49 runs. Karachi Kings’ Emad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Arshad Iqbal, Mohammad Nabi and Waqas Maqsood took one wicket each.

Earlier, Islam United won the toss and elected to field first. Karachi Kings openers Sharjeel Khan and Babar Azam started the innings aggressively against the opposition bowlers. Both players batted brilliantly to form the longest record opening partnership in the history of HBL PSL. Both batsmen added 176 runs for the first wicket. Earlier, Karachi Kings’ Babar Azam and Liam Livingstone held the record for the longest partnership in the history of the league. He made an initial partnership of 157 runs in the fourth edition of the league.

It is also the longest partnership of any wicket in HBL PSL. Sharjeel Khan scored the first century of the event with nine fours and eight sixes. He was dismissed for 105 off 59 balls. This is Sharjeel Khan’s second century overall in the HBL PSL and the ninth century of any batsman.

Karachi Kings’ second opener Babar Azam was run out for 62 by Alex Hales. His innings included a six and six fours. Karachi Kings scored 196 runs for the loss of three wickets in the stipulated 20 overs. Mohammad Nabi scored 7 runs while Dean Christian remained unbeaten on 12 runs.

Islamabad’s Hassan Ali and Hussain Talat took one wicket each but their fielders dropped several easy catches. There were three occasions during the innings when the batsmen of Karachi Kings were out on nine balls.

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