KARACHI                  -                An 85-run partnership for the fourth-wicket between Azam Khan and Sarfraz Ahmed secured a five-wicket win for Quetta Gladiators against Karachi Kings in the sixth HBL PSL 2020 fixture at Karachi’s National Stadium.

Defending champions Gladiators chased down the 157-run target with an over spare. Azam emerged as top scorer in the run chase with a 30-ball 46 and struck four fours and two sixes. He was declared player of the match for his match-defining innings. Sarfraz, the Gladiators captain, was not out on 37 which came off 28 balls. With 27 off 20, which included two fours and two sixes, Shane Watson was the other notable run-getter.

Earlier, pacer Mohammad Hasnain took three wickets for 33 runs and Tymal Mills returned two for 30 which limited the home side to 156 for nine after Karachi Kings’ captain Imad Wasim elected to bat. Iftikhar Ahmed, batting at six, struck two fours and six in his 25 off 18 towards the end of the innings to take his side to a competitive total. Alex Hales, playing his first HBL PSL match this season, was the top-scorer in Kings’ innings with a 27-ball 29, which included a four ad a six.

The second best performance, in terms of runs, came from Babar Azam who hit five fours in his 23-ball stay at the crease which brought him 26 runs. Quetta Gladiators now have two wins this season and they travel to Rawalpindi to take on Islamabad United in Rawalpindi on Thursday. Karachi Kings play Multan Sultans at the latter’s home on Friday.

Scorecard

KARACHI KINGS:
Babar Azam b Mills 26
Sharjeel Khan c & b M Nawaz 6
AD Hales c sub b M Hasnain 29
CS Delport c Nawaz b Sohail Khan 22
CAK Walton run out 1
Iftikhar Ahmed c Naseem b Hasnain 25
Imad Wasim run out 8
CJ Jordan c & b Mills 14
Umaid Asif b Mohammad Hasnain 9
Mohammad Amir not out 0
EXTRAS: (b 2, lb 12, w 2) 16
TOTAL: (9 wkts, 20 overs) 156
FOW: 1-31, 2-47, 3-76, 4-86, 5-96, 6-112, 7-136, 8-149, 9-156.
BOWLING: Sohail Khan 4-0-24-1, Naseem Shah 4-0-23-0, TS Mills 4-0-30-2, Mohammad Hasnain 4-0-33-3, Anwar Ali 2-0-19-0, Mohammad Nawaz 2-0-13-1.
QUETTA GLADIATORS:
JJ Roy run out 17
SR Watson run out 27
Ahmed Shehzad c Jordan b Imad 11
Sarfaraz Ahmed not out 37
Azam Khan run out 46
M Nawaz c Hales b Jordan 1
Anwar Ali not out 12
EXTRAS: (b 1, lb 4, w 1) 6
TOTAL: (5 wkts, 19 overs) 157
FOW: 1-41, 2-54, 3-55, 4-140, 5-144.
BOWLING: Imad Wasim 4-0-20-1, Mohammad Amir 4-0-30-0, Umaid Asif 3-0-25-0, CJ Jordan 4-0-34-1, Arshad Iqbal 4-0-43-0.
TOSS: Karachi Kings
UMPIRES: R Illingworth, F Afridi
TV UMPIRE: Asif Yaqoob
MATCH REFEREE: Roshan Mahanama