LAHORE: Quality bowling and brilliant fielding take Islamabad United to restrict Karachi Kings to 165 for the loss of 5 wickets in the 15th contest of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 9th edition at Qadhafi Stadium Lahore on Tuesday. Both pacers and spinners of United bowled well and didn’t allow the top and middle order of the Kings to stay on the crease for long.
Islamabad United dominated Kings from the very beginning and got the first 5 wickets on just 89 runs. However, it was Kieron Pollard and Irfan Khan who took their side in the fighting situation.
Earlier winning the toss, Islamabad United invited Karachi Kings to bat first. Both openers of the Kings Shan Masood and Tim Seifert took a cautious start; however, they still lost their first wicket in the 3rd over when Imad Waseem dismissed Tim as stumped out on 8. He was replaced by Leus du Plooy, who added 24 runs to the board before being bowled out by Agha Salman.
After Plooy Kings lost two more quick wickets in a couple of overs, First Hunain Shah Bowled out the skipper Shan Masood on 27 and then Shoaib Malak was run out while adding just runs to the total. At the stage, Kings were 73 for the loss of 4 wickets in 10.1 overs.
Later
Kieron Pollard and Mohammad Nawaz took charge to release the pressure. However, in the 14th over, Naseem Shah removed Mohammad Nawaz on 6 runs. Nawaz was Replaced by Irfan Khan as both managed to spend some time on the crease. Both the players took the total to a fighting situation.
Pollard played a responsible and cautious innings and added 48 valuable runs to the total. Irfan Khan also accompanied him and scored a crucial 27 runs on 22 balls. In 20 overs, Karachi Kings scored 165 for the loss of 5 wickets. Both Pollard and Irfan Khan remained unbeaten.
From Islamabad United, Naseem Shah, Hunain Shah, Agha Salman, and Imad Waseem took one wicket each.
Karachi Kings Team
Shan Masood (c), Tim Seifert (wk), Leus du Plooy, Shoaib Malik, Kieron Pollard, Mohammad Nawaz, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Hasan Ali, Mir Hamza, Tabrazi Shamsi, Mohammad Amir Khan
Islamabad United Team
Alex Hales, Colin Munro, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan (c), Azam Khan (wk), Jordan Cox, Imad Wasim, Faheem Ashraf, Naseem Shah, Hunain Shah, Rumman Raees
