Islamabad United beat Karachi Kings by two runs

There was Tennis Star, Women’s Doubles World No. 1 Sania Mirza sitting in the crowd to support her husband Shoaib Malik who is the captain of the Karachi Kings side.

Islamabad United team have finally won their first game of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) as Saeed Ajmal showed his magic once and picked up three wickets as they defeated the Karachi Kings who succumbed to their second consecutive loss after winning the opening game.

This came as a relief to Islamabad which lost their first two matches to Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmi respectively.

The first round will be followed by three quarter finals which will decide the top two teams that will fight in the final T20 game on February 23 at Dubai cricket stadium to win the event.

Islamabad United scored 132/8 in their respective 20 overs. Wasim’s dismissal, however, sparked a collapse as Karachi fell from 35 for 2 to 87 for 7.

Sam Billings held a fantastic catch off Andre Russell (1-23) to dismiss Wasim and in the next over Sami (1-26) castled Shoaib Malik (6) to restrict Islamabad United to 44 for four after eight overs. Shakib Al-Hasan contributed 20 runs for the side. Ravi Bopara then launched a six off the penultimate ball, but Watson held his nerve as Islamabad edged out Karachi.

However, Bopara could manage only a single off the final delivery, handing a two-run victory to the Islamabad United.