Hyderabad Kingsmen 157 for 4 (Labuschagne 61*, Green 2-19) beat Islamabad United 153 for 9 (Conway 45, Chapman 42, A Mehmood 4-18) by six wickets
Hyderabad Kingsmen put in a composed batting performance to run down Islamabad United’s 153 on a tricky Karachi pitch to win their second match in as many nights. Their captain Marnus Labuschagne carried the bat as he scored his first PSL half-century and cameos from Maaz Sadaqat and Glenn Maxwell in the powerplay and death provided the impetus on a surface that lacked pace and bounce, and one that made shot making difficult after the ball lost its sheen.Realising the need to maximise the powerplay, both top orders went berserk inside the first six overs – United made 57 for 1 and Kingsmen replied with 56 for 1 – but the point of difference was the middle overs. United gave away their momentum with the back-to-back run outs of well-set Devon Conway (45 off 31) and Mohammad Faiq (18 off 14) in the 10th over, whereas Kingsmen continued to knock down the target with a match-defining partnership of 60 between Labuschagne (61 not out off 53) and Saim Ayub (35 off 26).
Saim’s dismissal off Faheem Ashraf sparked a mini collapse as Kingsmen lost three for five runs in 10 balls, but the experience of Labuschagne and Maxwell (21 not out off nine) took them over the line with 11 balls to spare.
Sadaqat (30 off 16) gave a sparkling start to the run chase smashing Imad Wasim for two sixes and two fours in a 20-run first over. The openers brought up 50 inside 4.4 overs following which Sadaqat mis-hit a heave down the ground, providing United an opening. But the gritty stand between Saim, who has lacked runs in the tournament, and Labuschagne ensured that the dismissal does not open the floodgates by milking singles and picking up boundaries in a display of high-quality batting.
A flurry of middle order wickets put Kingsmen under the pump, but Maxwell started the 17th over with a six to bring the scoring rate below six an over and closed it with his trademark six over cow corner to leave 12 runs to be chased from the last three overs. Labuschagne and Maxwell struck consecutive fours to close the run chase.
Labuschagne had expected the dew to play a role in the run chase at the toss when he opted to bowl but there were not many signs of it. United, who were captained by Chris Green in the absence of Shadab Khan (muscle strain) started their innings with a flyer as Conway hit Mohammad Ali and Hunain Shah for two and four boundaries in the first and second over. Ali’s wily change of pace accounted for Sameer Minhas latter in the powerplay and it provided a template to Kingsmen on how to bowl on this surface.
Their pacers rolled their fingers throughout the middle overs and spinners bowled slow as boundaries dried up for United. Ali, Maxwell, Ayub, and Hassan Khan were impressive in the middle phase. Their incredible use of the pitch stretched United’s boundary drought to 56 balls, which ended in the 17th over as Mark Chapman (42 off 30) cashed on freebies offered by Hunain.He fell on the first ball of the last over to debutant Asif Mehmood, who had been plundered for 15 runs in his only over until then. The right-arm pacer, however, finished off in style taking four wickets and leaking only three runs in the last six balls.
