Amad Butt

Abhishek Singh ∙ 3 Mar 2021

Babar, Nabi take Karachi home as the ‘chasing team wins’ streak moves to 13 in PSL 6

Pakistani sensation Babar Azam once again proved why he is rated highly in the world. The Karachi Kings batsman scored 77 off 47 balls to take his team home in what was the 13th win on the trot for a team chasing in this year’s Pakistan Super League. All the matches in the PSL so far have now been won by the team batting second. Babar Azam, who opened the innings for Karachi, carried the bat, as he also carried the team along playing the anchor’s role in the chase of 189. The Kings did not start on the right note as the last match’s highest run-getter Sharjeel khan was removed on the very first ball by Mohammad Imran. Soon, Joe Clarke and Colin Ingram also followed suit. At 43-3 after the end of seven overs, Mohammad Nabi joined Babar and started counter-attacking the Zalmi. The two then started taking the game away from Shoaib Malik’s men. However, Umaid Asif, the ‘Iron Man’ from the last game got Nabi to play a miscued when he was in his early thirties, but Amad Butt at the Square leg boundary made a complete mess of it, giving Nabi a second life. From there on, there was no coming back for the Zalmi as Nabi, 36 and Babar, 26 put on 118 run stand for the fifth wicket. Nabi hit his second half-century (67 off 35) in a row before getting caught by Tom Kohler-Cadmore off a Saqib Mahmood delivery. Dan Christain who replaced Nabi completed the formalities. To no one’ surprise, Karachi, after winning the toss, invited Peshawar to bat first in the afternoon. The Zalmi didn’t have a good start, getting reduced to 69-4 in the first 10 overs before Ravi Bopara and Sherfane Rutherford pulled up a commendable rebuild. The two not only steadied the ship but also increased the scoring rate, adding 82 in 54 balls for the sixth wicket. However, it was Amad Butt and his insane last over hitting that made the sorry looking total a competitive one. He tonked Dan Christain for 32 runs in the last over, hitting three fours and two sixes. It was also the most expensive over in PSL’s history. This was the third win for Karachi at the National Stadium in five games. With this, they have now reached the top of the PSL Points Table with six points. Zalmi are also at six points but positioned at the second spot due to a lower net run rate. In the next game, Karachi play Multan Sultans on 5th March while Zalmi will have their hands full when they take on Lahore Qalandars the second match of the double header’s day on 6th March.