Islamabad United rule over Karachi Kings in turmoil to stay in Pakistan Super League title hunt

The target of 112 was a pitiful total and Islamabad treated it as such; if possible, it was even more emphatic than a nine-wicket margin and 34 balls left suggests.

Once the Karachi Kings opener Riki Wessels was bowled by Mohammad Sami for the first of his five wickets, their slide against Islamabad United continued in Dubai. Courtesy PCB

Karachi Kings 111-9 (Ravi Bopara 37; Mohammad Sami 5-8, Andre Russell 2-21)

Islamabad United 115-1 (Brad Haddin 52 not out, Dwayne Smith 50 not out)

DUBAI // The story of this match is actually the story before this match, a story that sums up the disarray that has been Karachi Kings’ Pakistan Super League (PSL) campaign.

By their current captain's admission, they should not even have gotten this far. Their previous captain, responsible for the campaign thus far, chose, bizarrely, to step down from leadership a day before this game.

Rumours of why Shoaib Malik relinquished the role buzzed around. Though he attributed it to wanting to find his form, speculation centred on differences with the team ownership, perhaps over team selections.

Every league needs a dysfunctional Hollywood club and in the PSL this year it is Karachi, also the league’s most expensive franchise.

On Saturday evening, in the eliminator with Islamabad United in Dubai they played like a team precisely befitting of its circumstances. Having lost the toss and been put in to bat, they batted out a maiden to start the match.

That should not have been a surprise. Lendl Simmons and Rikki Wessels were Karachi’s sixth different opening pair in nine games. Not knowing what their best batting order is has been a major on-field problem.

It did not get better thereafter as Mohammad Sami, a Karachi boy through and through, sliced their batting apart, ending with remarkable figures of 5-8. Malik’s form, it turned out, did not improve either, out for a four-ball duck.

That they got even as far as 111 was due to a 49-run stand between the incumbent captain Ravi Bopara and Ryan ten Doeschate.

It was a pitiful total and Islamabad treated it as such, Brad Haddin the lead aggressor with a 27-ball fifty; if possible, it was even more emphatic than a nine-wicket margin and 34 balls left suggests.

Turning point

The first over Mohammad Irfan bowled to Karachi set the tone, beating Lendl Simmons twice, extracting some pace and bounce and not conceding a single run.

But there were a few more, notably when Simmons was outfoxed by a slower ball from Andre Russell. Simmons had looked the only threat till then, having taken 18 runs off Irfan’s second over. But here he could only lob back to Russell and when Malik fell five balls later, the innings had gone bust.

More PSL

Player of the Match

Ah! Mohammad Sami, the one unfulfilled talent Pakistan has never been able to truly get over. He had pace, sometimes swing, always fit, always athletic and yet. He has had a superb PSL, now the sixth-highest wicket-taker with 10 wickets but having played only five matches.

It was not the kind of spell to set an evening alight, but a good ‘ol honest T20 spell and of solid Sami stock: straight, pretty quick and energetic.

The National verdict

Islamabad have not hit the heights of some other teams but have, in true Misbah-ul-Haq fashion, worked their way quietly into this tournament. They are also here because they have dominated the two weakest sides in the league; the problem is they now face the two sides they have not beaten.

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