Daily Times

DUBAI: West Indies opener Chris Gayle hit form just at the right time as Karachi Kings defeated Islamabad United by six wickets to seal a berth in the playoffs in the second edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) at Dubai International Stadium here on Sunday night. Chasing 124 to win in the rain-affected tie, Gayle finally returned to form and scored blistering 44 off just 17 balls with the help of five massive sixes and two boundaries to seal a rather comfortable victory for Kumar Sangakkara’s men. He was well supported by his fellow opener Babar Azam (27 off 27 balls) and Kieron Pollard (20 not out off 13 balls). Pollard, Saturday’s mastermind behind the win over Lahore Qalandars with successive sixes on the last two balls of the match, appropriately struck the winning boundary on the penultimate delivery to set up another meeting with Islamabad in the second playoff, between teams finishing third and fourth, in Sharjah on Wednesday night (March 1). Table-toppers Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators kick off the playoff round in Sharjah on Tuesday (March 28), with the winners qualifying straight into the March 5 and the losers awaiting winners of the Karachi-Islamabad match in Friday’s third playoff in Dubai.

For Islamabad, young leg-spinner Shadab Khan was the pick of the bowlers, as he claimed three wickets and just gave away 13 runs in his three overs. Earlier, after being sent in to bat first, Islamabad managed to score 123 for the loss of seven wickets in their allotted 15 overs. Opener Dwayne Smith finished the innings with the top score of 49 off 36 balls, which included seven boundaries and one six. But it took Smith ages to find the big shots. He finally perished attempting to smack Usman Khan Shinwari but found his West Indian colleague Pollard pouching a sensational catch on the run inches inside the boundary. For Karachi, pacers Sohail Khan, Mohammad Amir and Shinwari claimed two wickets each.