Centurion Ingram guides Karachi to a big win over Quetta

LAHORE: Colin Ingram smacked Quetta Gladiators for a 59-ball 127 to give Karachi Kings six wickets win in the 15th match of the PSL-4 in the final leg Sunday at the Sharjah Stadium. Karachi Kings won the toss and opted to bowl, while batting first Quetta Gladiators set a decent target of 187 for Kings, which they brilliantly achieved in 18.4 overs with six wickets in hand. With Karachi’s win, Quetta Gladiators winning spree has also came to an end. This was the fifth match for both teams, who had performed in all their previous four matches with contrasting results. Before this, Gladiators remained undefeated in all their four matches, securing eight points to top the points table, whereas Karachi Kings has recorded their second win, as they previously suffered from humiliation of three consecutive defeats. Ingram became the first overseas player to score a century in the Pakistan Super League. The top-order batsman hit 12 fours, and as many as eight sixes at a strike rate of 215.25. Sohail Tanvir picked two wickets in his four-over quota off 21 runs, while Muhammad Nawaz and Fawad Ahmed picked one wicket each. Fast bowler Ghulam Mudassar and Anwar Ali’s stats were a sorry tale as they departed the stadium wicketless while giving runs on an average of 14.66 and 10.90 respectively. The Quetta Gladiators posted 187-run target courtesy innings played by Umar Akmal and Anwar Ali - which could be best described as ‘annihilation’ of the Karachi Kings’ bowling attack led by Muhammad Aamir.

In-form Akmal took charge of the Gladiators after Watson and Rossouw took the team to a formidable position, the former Pakistan middle-order batsman concluded his innings with 55 runs off 37 balls with five boundaries at 148.64 strike rate. Rilee Rossouw played his fair share with his 44 runs off 32 balls. But in a show dominated with Akmal and Rossouw, a late six-ball cameo of Anwar Ali, made his special place in the improvised ‘sports drama’. Anwar with his late slogging contributed 27 runs with four sixes.