Islamabad United skipper Shadab Khan continues to impress as his sensational all-round show left the limping Karachi Kings in lurch, who suffered their fifth successive PSL defeat this season. Shadab returned with a magical spell of 4/15 to outperform Karachi by 42 runs in a lop-sided match at the National Stadium in Karachi.
While going after a competitive target of 178, Karachi never looked settled from the onset as their both the openers in captain Babar Azam (8) and Sharjeel Khan (6) were sent back to the pavilion cheaply when the scoreboard read 21/2.
United continued to take wickets in regular intervals as Karachi were clueless in crafting the run-chase as the Babar Azam-led team looked in utter disarray.
However, Afghanistan's Mohammad Nabi played a good knock of 47 runs and remained unbeaten as he remained the top-scorer for his team but his efforts went in vain. In the late overs, Nabi tried to bring Kings closer to the target by smashing some boundaries, but the brilliant United bowlers were in their elements who made Karachi's task herculean and restricted them to a lowly 135.
Leading from the front, skipper Shadab was once again towered among the bowlers with the brilliant figures of 4/15 in four overs in which he snared wickets of Imad Wasim (9), Lewis Gregory (15), Chris Jordan (5), Mohammad Taha (0), while Waqas Maqsood, Hasan Ali, and Wasim Jr picked one wicket each.
Islamabad posted 177 runs on the board for the loss of six wickets in their stipulated 20 overs after their skipper Shadab Khan elected to bat first.
Though, no batter from United reached the half-century, but their top-order contributed with 30-odd runs to help the team reach a competitive total.
Paul Sterling and Alex Hales gave them a 66 runs stand, as Karachi bowlers continued to struck in the middle to break the partnerships.
Paul scored 39, Hales 30, Munro 33, while Shadad scored a quick-fire 34 runs, and in the end Azam Khan played a small-cameo of 16 runs off just seven balls.
While for Karachi, Imad Wasim, Umaid Asif and Usman Shinwari took one wicket each and also ended their four overs spells under the economy rate of seven but remained ineffective in front of the high-profile United batting line-up.
