No mercy from Babar to finish it! 6-4-4 seals the match by seven wickets with seven balls to spare! After failing with two attempted yorkers, Sohail bangs it in short on the body and Babar swats it wide of deep fine leg, another bounce and over the rope.
Sultans vs Kings, 9th Match at Karachi, PSL, Feb 27 2021 - Match Result
Kings won by 7 wickets (with 7 balls remaining)
That's it from this match. Coverage is about to get underway for the second half of today's doubleheader between Islamabad United and Peshawar Zalmi with Saurabh Somani kicking off commentary shortly. For Danyal Rasool and the scoring team, I'm Peter Della Penna. Take care!
Winning captain Imad Wasim: "It was tough the last defeat but we knew we could come back. Credit goes to the bowlers first. The way we finished at the end was fantastic. I think we saved almost 15-20 runs at the death. Apart from that, our fielding was very poor so we'll see how it goes. [On Amir's maiden over] I always believe he is the best bowler in the world, not just in Pakistan. Even on flat tracks, he's bowling so well. I always back him. He's bowling so well. I think he's the best bowler in the world I've played with. I think he's executing it very nicely. I hope we get more wickets early on up front and we hope to do that next game. [On Joe Clarke] I call him 'Box-Office'. He's box-office basically. He just goes in and plays shots, not just slogs, but he's a gun player. He's proving that he's a very good young player."
Player of the Match is Babar Azam.
So now the Kings create a four-way tie at the top of the PSL table on four points alongside Islamabad United, Peshawar Zalmi and Lahore Qalandars. Kings have the best net run rate by far though. This is the most consecutive winning chases to start a PSL tournament, now at nine games in a row. However, the longest streak in PSL history stretched 14 games of teams chasing successfully during the 2019 season from match 12 to match 25 (that stat is courtesy of Matt Roller on the ESPNcricinfo staff).
Joe Clarke: "There have been good wickets around the 10 games that have been played. The ball gets a little bit softer and it comes on a touch slower but overall good wickets. When [Wasim Akram] speaks, people listen. The second 10 [innings in the field] was superb. We managed to bring it back really well. We know with our batting depth, we can chase anything so it was nice to get the win. I've been lucky in the two games I've batted to spend a bit of time with Babar. He makes the game look easy and next time I have to be out there at the end with him."
5.41 pm Sultans will rue their dreadful finish to the first innings. The scorecard will show a seven-wicket win with superb knocks in the chase by Babar Azam and Joe Clarke, but really it was magnificent bowling in the latter half of the first innings that set up victory for the Kings. Sultans looked like they were going to sail past 200 but Arshad Iqbal's 12th over taking Rizwan's wicket and conceding just two runs sparked a dramatic turnaround. Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir and Waqas Maqsood all played their part in tying down runs as well to keep the Sultans under 200 and set up a fairly stress-free chase.
Sohail lands it this time with a back of the hand slower ball, but the result is not much different. In the slot for Babar to shovel over extra cover, one bounce over the rope.
whoops! Sohail misfires badly and Babar responds with a shotgun blast over long-off! Tries for another slower yorker that turns into a thigh high full toss on sixth stump. Babar cocks and pumps this back down the ground over the rope.
goes for a slower wide yorker, slapped off a bottom edge into the feet and caroms toward cover.
Sakhi Ahmad : "Don't blame the toss! They are losing because of poor performance, "
goes for yorker, low full toss at knee height on fifth stump, slapped over midwicket for one.
14 from 12 required. Sohail for the 19th.
full on sixth stump, driven to long-off.
another wide yorker, plays around it.
wide yorker, stabs it out to backward point, misfield confirms a tight single.
full length on sixth stump, walks across to paddle to the leg side and misses off the back thigh, it caroms back toward Brathwaite but they're able to sneak a leg bye anyway.
full length ball on the guideline, heaved along the ground to long-on.
wide yorker, lands beyond the guidelines as Nabi fails to jam it out. Wide called, justifiably so. Rizwan is upset but that was clearly outside the legal recommended width.
length ball wide outside off, driven through the covers to the sweeper.
Yousaf Saleem M: "This is so predictable now, Win the toss and bowl as badly as you can. Team bowling second will bowl even worst than you. "
back of a length on middle, goes back to punch to long-off.
flighted full again, another miscued heave aiming for midwicket comes off the cue stick to long-on along the ground.
floats this fuller, tries to slog sweep over midwicket, top edge swirls over the keeper through third man for four.
another good length ball pushed through the ring.
good length ball on the stumps, tapped away.
short on off, goes back to pull to wide midwicket.
Qadir returns.
tries to bounce him, cagey Nabi ducks his head inside the line and paddle flicks this over fine leg wide of the keeper to pocket a boundary off the last ball.
full on the stumps, defended to extra cover.
1W | ||||
1W | ||||
1W | ||||
1W |
National Stadium, Karachi | |
Toss | Karachi Kings, elected to field first |
Series | |
Season | 2020/21 |
Player Of The Match | |
Match days | 27 February 2021 - day (20-over match) |
Umpires | |
TV Umpire | |
Reserve Umpire | |
Match Referee | |
Points | Karachi Kings 2, Multan Sultans 0 |
Over 19 • KK 198/3
Kings won by 7 wickets (with 7 balls remaining)