Daily Times

SHARJAH: Babar Azam played a dazzling innings as Karachi Kings defeated Islamabad United by eight runs on the Duckworth-Lewis Method to score their first victory in the Pakistan Super League at Sharjah Stadium here Friday night. Chasing an easy target of 75, Babar smashed 47 off 30 balls to give his team the much-needed victory in the second edition of the PSL before a capacity crowd. Mohammad Sami and Shadab Khan were spanked for 18 and 14 in their solitary overs as the 22-year old opener ensured Karachi were ahead on the DLS par score. When the final and decisive shower mercifully put the day’s cricket out of its misery, Babar had done enough. Earlier, Karachi opted to bowl first in the rain-affected match and restricted defending champions Islamabad to 90 for the loss of seven scalps in 13 overs. Barring a couple of sixes that Dwayne Smith muscled over long-on, Islamabad wasted much of the Powerplay and by the time rain returned after 7.1 overs, they were struggling at 34 for 2. With the game curtailed to 13 overs a side, Misbahul Haq’s men had no option but to tee off right from the restart. However, they struggled to do so and aside from a poor penultimate over from Mohammad Amir that went for 18, Karachi’s disciplined bowling performance kept Islamabad to a meager score of 90-7.

Brief scores:

Karachi Kings 75 for 4 (Babar Azam 47*, Mohammad Irfan 2-7) defeat Islamabad United 90 for 8 (Dwayne Smith 29, Mir 2-10, Imad Wasim 2-15) by eight runs through Duckworth-Lewis Method.