Karachi seal convincing win as Amir takes a hat-trick!
The stadium was buzzing with excitement as the ‘Big Two’ faced up against each other on Match Day two of the HBLPSL. Karachi Kings won the toss and elected to field first and straight away got down to business. Chris Gayle fell in the first over to Karachi’s captain Shoaib Malik shortly after hitting him for a boundary towards mid on. Azhar Ali looked to be in good touch and tried to build a partnership with Cameron Delport on the other end, but his cameo came to an end as he was totally bamboozled by a scintillating arm ball by Shakib Al Hasan. Karachi continued to pick up wickets at regular intervals as their spinners dominated proceedings.
To make matters worse for Lahore Qalandars, Mohammad Amir stole the show with a hat trick after picking up Dwayne Bravo, Zohaib Khan and Kevon Cooper in three successive deliveries! Bowled, Caught, LBW, Amir’s hat trick had it all. Mohammad Rizwan tried to steady the ship but wasn’t helped at all by any of his team mates. He was the highest scorer in the innings with 37 from 31 balls, as Lahore Qalandars were restricted to a disappointing 128 for the loss of 8 wickets in their allotted 20 overs.
Lahore Qalandars came out fighting and took two early wickets, courtesy Zia Ul Haq and Zafar Gohar. Shakib Al Hasan was dropped early on by Dwayne Bravo, and he made sure Lahore Qalandars paid for their missed opportunity by smashing boundaries all over the place later on. Together with Lendl Simmons, the pair dominated Qalandar’s bowling attack and added an impressive 109 runs partnership for the third wicket, loaded with boundaries. Karachi Kings cruised to their total with ease and secured their victory by seven wickets, with four overs to spare. Shakib Al Hasan grabbed the man of the match award for his all round performance.
This tournament has really belonged to the spinners (barring the hat-trick from Amir of course) and with plenty of quality spinners in their side, Karachi Kings look like the team to beat. Till then, it’s back to the drawing board for Lahore Qalandars.
