Ronchi stars as Islamabad beat Karachi by 8 wickets
sharjah — Islamabad United halted Karachi Kings’ unbeaten streak with a clinical victory in the 15th match of the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Sunday night.
Opener Luke Ronchi’s blitzkrieg put them on the road and his opening partner JP Duminy and Asif Ali wrapped things up with an eightwicket win, with 16 deliveries to spare. The Karachi Kings had won three from four with one being a wash-out. But despite coming up with the fourth highest total of this year’s edition, they ran into a resurgent Islamabad United on the night.
Ronchi belted 71, the joint highest score of this edition, but he had consumed far fewer deliveries compared to Peshawar Zalmi’s Dwayne Smith. Ronchi’s knock came from just 37 balls and was peppered with 10 boundaries and three sixes. Smith’s 71, incidentally against the Karachi Kings, had come from 51 balls.
Ronchi had reached his half-century in just 23 deliveries, the fourth fastest in this year’s PSL.
Earlier, the Karachi Kings had almost fluffed a great start before Mohammad Rizwan came in and gave them that much-needed impetus, lower down the order.
Babar Azam and opener Khurram Manzoor had put on a century partnership for the second wicket in almost 14 overs but were lagging behind in terms of the team’s total despite the luxury of having nine wickets still in hand.
The Karachi Kings had made 71 runs from their first 12 overs but after some fine little cameos from Ravi Bopara, captain Imad Wasim and Rizwan, they accelerated to 153 for six in their allotment, with 82 runs coming from the last eight overs.
Rizwan’s telling blow of 21 from just nine deliveries with two boundaries and a six, rocketed the Kings to that total. Islamabad United thought they had made a good start after the battle-hardened veteran Mohammad Sami had disturbed English opener Joe Denly’s furniture with a fine delivery. Denly had struck a boundary but was out for four from three balls.
Denly’s wicket was the only one Islamabad United were to enjoy for quite a while as Azam and Manzoor went about stitching together that mammoth stand. Azam brought up his half-century off 47 balls, with a single of Samit Patel, while Manzoor too joined him on the landmark in the same over, smacking last delivery for a boundary.
Manzoor was to fall in the next over, gobbled up by Sahibzada Farhan off medium pacer Faheem Ashraf. Colin Ingram followed in the same over, caught by wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi for one.
Azam’s innings ended in the 17th over, after he was caught by Asif Ali off Hussain Talat. Bopara, Wasim and Rizwan then nudged them to a competitive total. Ashraf finished up with three for 23.
After a day’s break on Monday, the PSL returns to the Dubai International Cricket Stadium with Peshawar Zalmi taking on the Multan Sultans at 8 p.m on Tuesday night.