Mohamed Amir took a brilliant hat-trick as Karachi Kings defeated Lahore Qalandars by seven wickets in the Pakistan Super League yesterday.
Amir, who recently made a comeback for Pakistan after a long ban for spot-fixing, bowled Qalandars’ Dwayne Bravo, had Zohaib Khan caught behind by the wicket-keeper and trapped Kevon Cooper in front of the wicket in the 19th over to restrict the Qatar-owned side to 125 for 8.
Lahore, led by Azhar Ali, failed to get going after batting first and struggled against the Karachi bowling at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Mohamed Rizwan was the highest scorer for them with a 31-ball 37, but with precious little support from the other end, they failed to score at a decent run rate.
Karachi had little trouble knocking off the small total, as despite losing two early wickets, fifties from Lendl Simmons and Shakib Al Hasan guided the team home inside 16 overs. Simmons struck eight fours and two sixes for his 62 not out, while Shakib’s 35-ball 51 featured three fours and sixes each; the pair added 109 runs for the third wicket.
On Thursday, Shane Watson’s team was defeated by Kevin Pietersen’s in the first ever Pakistan Super League match in Dubai.
Watson, one of the most sought-after commodities on the Twenty20 market, couldn’t get Islamabad United over the line against a strong Quetta Gladiators line-up. The Australian all-rounder, who just a few days ago made a century in a T20 International against India at the SCG, opened the batting for Islamabad and hit the first boundary in the tournament’s history.
But a short while later he was trudging back to the pavilion after missing an attempted pull shot off young spinner Mohamed Nawaz and being bowled for a frustrating 15 off 27 balls.
Nawaz finished with stunning figures of 4-13 off four overs to help restrict Islamabad to just 7-128 - a score that would have been worse if not for some big hitting late in the innings from captain Misbah-ul-Haq (41 off 28) and Sydney Thunder’s West Indian sensation Andre Russell (35 off 20).
However the runs were nowhere near enough to stop the Gladiators from storming to victory with eight wickets to spare.
Englishman Luke Wright, who plays for Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League, was the standout batsman with 86 runs from just 53 balls, an innings that featured 11 fours and four sixes.
Pietersen was trapped lbw by Pakistani journeyman Imran Khalid before Nawaz returned to cap a memorable game by scoring 22 not out as Quetta cruised to victory with four overs remaining.
Earlier on Thursday, the PSL got off to a dazzling start with light shows, vibrant music and fireworks.
The players from the five teams from Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta, Karachi and Lahore marched into the stadium out to the stadium in limos to the tune of their teams’ anthems. As the presenters introduced the teams and the captains, the loudest cheer of the night was reserved for Pakistan T20 captain Shahid Afridi.
The ceremony was highlighted by performances from Pakistan actors Mohib Mirza and Sanam Saeed followed by famous musician Sean Paul and Pakistan’s actor-singer Ali Zafar. Sean who hails from Jamaica, was also joined by West Indian cricketers Chris Gayle, Darren Sammy and Jason Holder on the stage as the cricketers entertained the crowd with their other talents.
The PSL is Pakistan’s first franchise-based league and has provided emerging as well as established cricketers with a lucrative opportunity to display their Twenty20 talent during the extravaganza which continues till February 24. The 19-day league – to be played in Dubai and Sharjah – comprises five franchises: Lahore Qalandars, Karachi Kings, Peshawar Zalmi, Islamabad United and Quetta Gladiators. All outfits boast a fair mix of international and domestic players.