KARACHI: Karachi Kings returned to winning ways in the HBL Pakistan Super League with a commanding 56-run victory over Quetta Gladiators at the National Bank Stadium here on Thursday night, courtesy of James Vince’s fluent half-century and a disciplined all-round bowling effort.
Vince’s 70 off 47 deliveries anchored the Kings’ innings on a tricky surface where spin proved potent, helping the home side post a competitive 175-7. In reply, the Gladiators faltered early and never recovered, folding for a mere 119-9 in their 20 overs.
Coming in at number three, Vince was the standout in an otherwise patchy batting display from Karachi. The Englishman played with authority, striking six fours and a six in a well-paced innings that provided much-needed stability after a brisk start was undone by Quetta’s spin trio of Abrar Ahmed, Saud Shakeel, and debutant Ali Majid.
The home side had cruised to 61-1 in the powerplay, but lost openers, skipper David Warner (31 off 20, five fours) and his partner Tim Siefert (27 off 15, six fours), on either end of the period, thanks to mystery spinner Abrar and left-arm orthodox Saud — who uprooted Siefert’s off-stump with a ripper.
Karachi failed to score a boundary from that point on until the end of the 10th over, with leg-spinner Majid cleaning up newcomer Mohammad Riazullah as the scoreboard read 79-3.
Vince broke the shackles as he walked down the wicket to launch Saud’s left-arm spin straight and long but before the Englishman could regain the long lost momentum for his team, he saw Majid rattle Khushdil Shah’s stumps on the other end.
After 23 boundary-less deliveries, the introduction of Faheem Ashraf into the attack in the 15th over allowed the Karachi batters to open their arms as Vince comfortably placed the medium-pacer through the off-side for two fours and Irfan Khan lifted him over the covers for six.
But once again, what looked like the Kings potential revival was constrained by a wicket as Irfan holed out Sean Abbot’s pace to Finn Allen at long-on to leave Karachi struggling at 125-5 at the start of the 16th over.
Vince continued to show his class, however, slashing veteran pacer Mohammad Amir and pulling the left-armer for two more boundaries to bring up his half century in 56 balls.
The right-hander cut Abrar for his fifth boundary just before Karachi crossed the 150-run mark in the 19th over, which also saw Saud drop a sitter at mid-on off Abbott before Vince found the gap past third man for four more.
Nabi punished Quetta for letting him off the hook with sixes off Amir on the first two balls of the final over, but fell to a brilliant fielding effort by Allen on the very next at long-on, as the New Zealander, airborne, tossed the ball up from across the boundary back into the ground before gathering it safely into his hands.
Amir went on to dismiss Vince on the very last ball of the innings.
Quetta, in response, got off to a poor start, losing five wickets for only 37 runs in the powerplay. On a slow wicket, Mir Hamza’s change of pace got the better of Quetta’s explosive opener Finn Allen in the first over.
In-form Kings pacer Hasan Ali (3-27) forced an edge off Hasan Nawaz’s bat to get the right-hander caught at first slip two balls later, although the right-armer was hit for three boundaries in the same over.
Hasan, however, returned in the fourth to dismiss Khawaja Nafay after Afghanistan spinner Nabi (7-2) had sent Kusal Mendis back to the pavilion.
Nabi bagged his second victim in form of Rilee Rossouw on the penultimate ball of the powerplay before Faheem holed out Abbas Afridi to Aamer Jamal at square-leg as Quetta struggled to 47-6 by the end of the ninth over.
Abbas got his second when he trapped Sean Abbott lbw, with the DRS review failing to save the Australian tailender.
The incoming Amir played a square drive for four on the very first ball he faced, and after quite two overs, the left-hander bludgeoned Khushdil’s spin for two towering sixes over long-on and cow corner and a boundary through midwicket.
Quetta skipper Saud Shakeel, who was playing at 22 off 29 at that point, swung his bat for a four over the keeper’s head off Hasan at the start of the 16th over as Gladiators hoped for a miracle.
Amir gave air to those hopes with another six over the covers off Aamer Jamal’s pace, only to have his stumps disturbed by the right-armer on the next ball.
Hasan returned in the 19th to get his third wicket in the form of Abrar, Quetta’s last man to fall before the overs dried down as Saud, the skipper, was left stranded on the other end with 33 off 40 against his name.
SCOREBOARD
KARACHI KINGS:
Tim Seifert b Saud 27
David Warner c Faheem b Abrar 31
James Vince c Faheem b Amir 70
Mohammad Riazullah b Ali 6
Khushdil Shah b Ali 1
Irfan Khan c Allen b Abbott 17
Mohammad Nabi c Allen b Amir 18
Aamer Jamal not out 1
EXTRAS (LB-1, W-3) 4
TOTAL (for seven wickets, 20 overs) 175
DID NOT BAT: Abbas Afridi, Hasan Ali, Mir Hamza
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-60 (Warner), 2-62 (Seifert), 3-79 (Riazullah), 4-91 (Khushdil), 5-125 (Irfan), 6-174 (Nabi), 7-175 (Vince)
BOWLING: Amir 4-0-42-2 (2w), Ali 4-0-29-2, Abbott 4-0-33-1 (1w), Abrar 4-0-33-1, Saud 3-0-20-1, Faheem 1-0-17-0
QUETTA GLADIATORS:
Saud Shakeel not out 33
Finn Allen c Nabi b Hamza 6
Hasan Nawaz c Khushdil b Hasan 1
Kusal Mendis c Hasan b Nabi 12
Khawaja Nafay c Aamer b Hasan 1
Rilee Rossouw c Aamer b Nabi 1
Faheem Ashraf c Aamer b Abbas 3
Sean Abbott lbw b Abbas 3
Mohammad Amir b Aamer 30
Abrar Ahmed b Hasan 5
Ali Majid not out 9
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-3, W-8) 15
TOTAL (for nine wickets, 20 overs) 119
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-8 (Allen), 2-9 (Hasan), 3-34 (Mendis), 4-36 (Nafay), 5-37 (Rossouw), 6-47 (Faheem), 7-57 (Abbott), 8-100 (Amir), 9-110 (Abrar)
BOWLING: Hamza 4-0-31-1 (2w), Hasan 4-0-27-3 (1w), Nabi 4-1-7-2, Khushdil 4-0-28-0 (1w), Abbas 2-0-9-2 (1w), Aamer 2-0-10-1 (2w)
RESULT: Karachi Kings won by 56 runs.
PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: James Vince
Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2025
