Mir Hamza stars as Karachi Kings break losing streak
Hafeez's 24-ball 33 was the closest a Qalandars player came to steering the chase as Kings had their first win in nine games
Hafeez's 24-ball 33 was the closest a Qalandars player came to steering the chase as Kings had their first win in nine games
Scorer: Ranjith P | Commentator: Ekanth
Today's games started brilliantly with Multan turning Lahore into a fireworks exhibition centre. The entertainment fizzled out in the chase. The second game provided a lot of twists and turns. It ends with a maiden win for Karachi for the season. We thank you for tagging along and hope you enjoyed the coverage of both games here on ESPNCricinfo. We'll be back for Lahore Vs Islamabad. You can follow it here. For now, I'm Ekanth, signing off on behalf of our scorer, Ranjith. Good night.
Mir Hamza, Player of the Match for 4-0-27-4: I did get extra bounce which helped. The team's intent was to win for the fans of Karachi. While Wiese was playing, the focus was on length, even the discussion on field placement took a backseat as he was in form and classy enough to hit over extra cover. The Length balls were coming on and he was likely to get hold of them. So I went for slower ones and yorkers instead.
Shaheen Afridi, Lahore Captain: Credit to Karachi for playing good cricket. 150 was a gettable wicket but the team playing better won, and the pitch slowing down was not the reason for the loss. Losing wickets early was. Rashid has been good, so has Zaman who is a prospect for the Pakistani team. We will try to get into the top 2 and hopefully enjoy getting the journey along the way.
Babar Azam, Karachi Captain: Congratulations to the team and the people who have kept supporting us. The wicket was good at the start of the game. We expected 170-180 but were 15-20 short. So, the plan was to get Fakhar and take it from there When some overs went for runs, the bowlers did bowl to plan. I tried to rotate the bowlers to not allow batters to get used to the action. At the death in T20s, yorkers are important. The execution was good from Hamza and Jordan and that led to the win.
Haris khan: "Hamza just bowled some great Yorkers. I had not seen such consistent Yorkers for very long time in any format/tournament." They are high risk but Karachi was going for anything and everything if it helped them come close.
Clarke.: "Finally some low scoring match" And a good one at it.
Zahid: "Finally Biryani win over Pulano, Nehari win over Paya, Chai win over Lussi. Congratulations KK"
Shayan Ahmad: "Relief for us Karachi fans finally getting a win. If you think about it this could've and should've been our 3rd straight win after fumbling the last 2 from the grasp of victory " At least some of the mixed feelings and relief remains among the overwhelming pathos.
Chris Jordan 4-0-23-2: That was a tough catch (to dismiss Fakhar) but I have practiced it. I ran back and was able to take it in the end. A bit of reverse but we have managed the ball and got through in the end. I played with Hamza at Sussex and he can bowl anywhere in the innings. The future of the Pakistani bowling is bright. I'm happy for him. Two big cities, the rivalry was big. The score was not big but we did well in the powerplay and that was the discussion
11:32 pm Karachi 's pathos has finally found some solace as they beat Lahore in an almost attritional fashion. The score was slightly under par but the impetus Gregory gave in the first innings was fruitful. Getting Fakhar early was significant, so were the regular wickets in the first ten. Lahore's lower order threatened to steal another but Karachi managed to pull it back to register its first win this season.
Rashid Khan b Jordan 0 (14m 4b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00
Shaheen Shah Afridi run out 0 (8m 3b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00
25 needed off the last over to be bowled by Jordan. Karachi should win it from here 10 out of 10 times but that's the kind of games they have lost this season so who knows what will happen?!
Hafeez's 24-ball 33 was the closest a Qalandars player came to steering the chase as Kings had their first win in nine games
From Sydney Thunder to Delhi Daredevils, here are the teams that have suffered an unenviable T20 run