TIME TO GO FOR BROKE
The way the second edition of the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) is being played out, there should perhaps be paramedics on standby. A large chunk of them have been nothing short of drama and although the Karachi Kings won by a massive margin in the end to send Islamabad United, the defending champions, home, it did have a fair share of it.
And after 22 matches, including the first and second play-offs, two teams still have the opportunity to book a ticket to the final in Lahore. The Quetta Gladiators already touched down in Lahore on Thursday and await either Peshawar Zalmi or the Karachi Kings to join them soon enough.
Foreign players may be pulling out despite being assured of five-tier security usually reserved and accorded to a head of state, in Lahore, but there is still a match to be won here in Dubai.
Peshawar and Karachi get another shot at the final when the two franchises square off in the third qualifying final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Friday.
Peshawar Zalmi had come through as the League’s toppers but ran into a gritty Quetta Gladiators. And even though they made a fist of it with a brilliant fightback, they agonizingly fell short by one run.
But as all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez, who came up with that riposte to Quetta’s big total, said the other night, they do have another chance and will give it their absolute best and reach Lahore.
And that brings us to the Karachi Kings, whose story has been nothing short of spectacular. For a team which was languishing at the bottom of the table with three defeats from three games, Kumar Sangakkara’s side scripted one of the biggest turnarounds ever seen.
They just about managed to make the cut for the play-offs and they are here now, beating Islamabad United, not once, but twice. It may perhaps be that the Karachi Kings are peaking at the right time.