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Islamabad Knock Karachi Out of PSL 2019 with Five-Wicket Win

KARACHI: Asif Ali fireworks helped Islamabad United to knock Karachi Kings out of Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2019 as Islamabad won eliminator by five wickets at the National Stadium in Karachi.

Asif Ali remained not out on a 10-ball 24 to see his team home. Faheem Ashraf also played a cameo of 8-ball 17 runs at the end.

Hussain Talat (32 off 19), Cameron Delport (38 off 27) and Alex Hales (41 off 42) also have useful contributions in today’s victory of Islamabad.

For Karachi, 19-year-old spinner Umer Khan and pacer Aamer Yameen took 2-wicket each while Muhammad Amir and Usman Shinwari picked one-wicket each.

In the first innings, Karachi Kings only managed to set 162-run target for Islamabad United after a blistering start from Colin Munro and Babar Azam in the first eliminator.

Karachi’s 78 for 0, in the first six overs, was the PSL’s joint-highest Powerplay score.

Karachi’s Munro scored 32 off just 11 balls including six fours and a six. Babar Azam also played important innings of 42 runs.

For Islamabad, young-gun Muhammad Musa took three wickets while Faheem Ashraf picked two wickets.

Rumman Raees and Shadab Khan picked one-wicket each.

Earlier, Karachi have won the toss and elected to bat first against Islamabad.

During the group stages, both Islamabad and Karachi won five games each and were solidly average. They were better than the bottom two but not quite as good as the top two.

The head-to-head comparison somewhat deflates the notion as Islamabad won both the league fixtures against Karachi in the group stages, although in Karachi’s defence, both the games went down to the wire.

Overall, the two sides have faced each other 11 times across the four PSL tournaments, with Islamabad winning seven and Karachi four.

Moreover, United are riding a three-match winning streak against the Kings dating back to last year’s tournament.