Published: Mar 01, 2017, 09:12 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 02, 2017, 01:16 AM (IST)
Good Evening! Hello and Welcome to CricketCountry’s live blog post for the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2017. This is the second qualifying final between Islamabad United and Karachi Kings. The match will be played at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Reigning champions Islamabad United qualified for the play-offs in the fourth position while the Kings qualified in the third position. Both teams 8 points from the 8 matches they had played but Kings were ahead of the United for net run rate. The winner of the qualifier will have to play another match with the losing team from qualifier one, which will decide the other finalist.
Interestingly, the last match of group stage was between United and Kings, which the later won by 6 wickets to qualify for the play-offs. Misbah-ul-Haq’s United had put up a par score of 123 for 7 at the end of their innings batting first. Dwane Smith played the most crucial knock scoring a 36-ball 49 but no other batsman could contribute to make the total big. For Kings, Mohammad Aamer, Sohail Khan, Usman Khan all bagged a wicket each.
The chase was a Chris Gayle show for Kumar Sangakkara’s Karachi Kings as the T20 specialist hit a 17-ball 44 with the help of 2 fours and 5 huge sixes. With this knock, Kings eased their way to victory with 5.1 overs still remaining at hand. However, Shadab Khan’s spell was exceptional as the bowler picked up 3 of the 4 wickets, giving away just 13 runs.
Squads:
Islamabad United: Dwayne Smith, Rafatullah Mohmand, Hussain Talat, Misbah-ul-Haq (c), Brad Haddin (wk), Shane Watson, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Irfan, Rumman Raees, Samuel Badree, Amad Butt, Imran Khalid, Ben Duckett, Saeed Ajmal, Zohaib Khan, Asif Ali
Karachi Kings: Babar Azam, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara (c & wk), Shoaib Malik, Ravi Bopara, Imad Wasim, Kieron Pollard, Sohail Khan, Mohammad Amir, Usama Mir, Usman Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Chris Gayle, Hasan Mohsin, Kashif Bhatti, Khurram Manzoor, Ryan McLaren, Rahat Ali, Saifullah Bangash, Shahzaib Hasan
