Karachi Kings Win PSL V By Five Wickets

It was a night for Karachi to celebrate as Babar Azam led the Karachi Kings to their maiden PSL win as Lahore Qalandars failed to make a mark with both the batting and bowling.

Babar Azam smashed an unbeaten 49-ball 63 to steer Karachi Kings to their maiden HBL Pakistan Super League title with a five-wicket win over Lahore Qalandars at the National Stadium on Tuesday, said the Pakistan Cricket Board in a press release.

The all-format Pakistan captain recorded his fifth half-century of the 2020 edition, which was studded with seven fours, as Kings chased down the 135-run target with eight balls spare. This was his 46th half-century in the format, the board added.

Kings were provided a steady beginning as Babar added 23 and 26 runs for the first and second wicket with Sharjeel Khan (13 off 12) and Alex Hales (run-a-ball 11) after which he stitched a 61-run alliance for the third wicket with Chadwick Walton (22 off 27) that settled the game in his side’s favour.

Earlier, Qalandars had managed only 134 runs at the loss of seven wickets after their captain Sohail Akhtar elected to bat. The opening pair of Tamim Iqbal and Fakhar Zaman provided a cautious start with a 68-run alliance in 10.1 overs.

The two, however, failed to build on it as they were dismissed in a span of four balls by Umaid Asif in the 11th over. Iftikhar Ahmed caught both batsmen.

Tamim, who scored 35 off 38 balls, which included four fours and a six, was the first wicket to fall, while Fakhar followed him back after adding 27 runs to the total from 24 balls, four of which were hit for boundary.

Problems compounded when Mohammad Hafeez (two off four) got out trying to slog Imad Wasim as Qalandars lost three wickets for two runs in seven balls.

From there on, Qalandars lost wickets on regular intervals as Samit Patel (five off eight), Ben Dunk (11 off 14) and Sohail (run-a-ball 14) fell in the 14th, 16th and 19th overs.