KARACHI – After losing first three matches of the season in a row, Karachi Kings finally tasted success as they beat Lahore Qalandars by 67 runs in the eighth match of the eighth edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL8) at Karachi’s National Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
Lahore Qalandars won the toss and elected to bowl first. Batting first, Karachi Kings put up a decent total of 185 runs at a loss of 5 wickets in 20 overs for Lahore Qalandars. Karachi Kings batters James Vince scored 46 runs in 36 balls and Mathew Wade 36 runs in 24 balls. On the bowling side, Liam Dawson took one wicket for 29 runs and Zaman Khan took one wicket and conceded 34 runs.
Chasing the target, Lahore Qalandars could make only 118 runs in 17.3 overs and lost all the wickets. Lahore Qalandars batsmen Mirza Tahir Baig made 45 runs in 39 balls and Kamran Ghulam 23 runs in 22 balls. On the bowling side, Akif Javed took 4 wickets for 28 runs and Ben Cutting 2 wickets for 12 runs.
Cricket fans were eagerly waiting for the clash between arch-rivals which was scheduled to start at 7pm local time.
The visitors were confident as the Shaheen Afridi-led squad kicked off their title defence with a thumping win over Multan Sultans in the opening match of this year’s sports gala.
????TOSS UPDATE????@LAHOREQALANDARS elected to field.
Follow ball-by-ball updates: https://t.co/57UNAR9IiK #SabSitarayHumaray l #KKvLQ l #HBLPSL8 pic.twitter.com/iivlcvhdAA
— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) February 19, 2023
Karachi Kings, on the other hand, lost all three games. Kings remain good with the bat so far but Zalmi, United and even Gladiators outfoxed the hosts in the Pakistan Super League season 8.
Matthew Wade, James Vince, Sharjeel Khan, Amir and Haider were expected to charge the opponents while Qalandars’s skipper and star player Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Zaman Khan were likely to give tough time to hosts in the much-touted clash.
PSL8, Match 4: Colin Munro, Azam Khan power Islamabad United to victory over Karachi Kings
Squads
Karachi Kings: Matthew Wade, James Vince, Sharjeel Khan, Haider Ali, Shoaib Malik, Imad Wasim, Andrew Tye, Imran Tahir, James Fuller, Mohammad Amir, Muhammad Musa
Lahore Qalandars: Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Kamran Ghulam, Sikandar Raza, Liam Dawson, David Wiese, Rashid Khan, Hussain Talat, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Zaman Khan
