Karachi Kings clobber Multan Sultans by 63 runs

Mar 11, 2018 Sports 0

A pair of half centuries by Joe Denly and Babar Azam coupled with a vintage Shahid Afridi bowling spell helped Karachi Kings defeat Multan Sultans by 63 runs in the 22nd fixture of the Pakistan Super League 2018 in Dubai.

After Multan Sultans won the toss and invited Karachi Kings to bat first, the new pairing of Joe Denly and Lendl Simmons took the crease. The two remained cautious at the start, the West Indian more so than the Englishman.

Simmons consumed 13 balls and scored just four before Mohammad Irfan sent him back to the dugout.

He brought up his fifty in that same Tahir over, by the end of which the Kings were 68-1.

Denly was on a mission, almost single-handedly powering the Kings innings. Of the 95 runs scored by the end of the 13th over, 70 had come off the Englishman’s willow.

Azam also played a few shots of his own, like the pretty looking six over the long-on boundary in the 14th over.

The game, at this point, was all but over.

The tail extended the proceedings but the run chase had been dead for quite some time. Sohail Tanvir’s late cameo of 29-ball 34 was of little use as the Sultans were all out for 125, falling 63 runs short.

Afridi was named the man of the match for his bowling figures of 3-18 in four overs.

Line-ups

Karachi Kings: Joe Denly, Lendl Simmons, Shahid Afridi, Babar Azam, Colin Ingram, Ravi Bopara, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Imad Wasim (capt), Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Amir, Usman Khan.

Multan Sultans: Ahmed Shehzad, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Sohaib Maqsood, Shoaib Malik (capt), Kieron Pollard, Saif Badar, Sohail Tanvir, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan, Imran Tahir, Hardus Viljoen.