Daily Times

SHARJAH: Medium pacer Faheem Ashraf grabbed three wickets while Luke Ronchi struck a masterful half century to steer defending champions Islamabad United to a comfortable seven wicket win over a Karachi Kings in their Pakistan Super League (PSL) match at Sharjah Stadium on Saturday evening. Ronchi built on Faheem’s 3-26 with an undefeated 35-ball 67 spiced up with three sixes and eight boundaries as Islamabad chased down a modest 144-run target with 23 balls to spare. Islamabad lost Cameroon Delport in the first over to a run out but Ronchi in company of Sahibzada Farhan (28-ball 30 with four boundaries) put the chase back on track. Karachi captain Imad Wasim raised some hopes of a fightback by grabbing two wickets off successive balls — Fahran and Hussain Talat (nought) but Samit Patel smashed six fours and a six during his 30-ball 45 not out to avert any mishap. He added 62 for the unfinished fourth wicket stand with Ronchi. Karachi’s spearhead Mohammad Amir went for 39 in his four overs while Usman Shinwari conceded 29 in his two. Imad was the only who succeeded with 2-27. Earlier, Ben Dunk (32-ball 49 with two sixes and three boundaries) and Aamer Yamin (19-ball 35 not out with three fours and two sixes) helped Karachi recover from a precarious 74-6 to 143-6 in 20 overs after they were put into bat.

Brief scores:

Karachi Kings 143-6 in 20 overs (B Dunk 49 not out, Aamer Yamin 35 not out, Faheem Ashraf 3-26) VS Islamabad United 147-3 in 16.1 overs (Luke Ronchi 67 not out, S Patel 44 not out) 2.

Published in Daily Times, February 25^th 2019.