Karachi Kings to face Islamabad United tonight

Karachi: Karachi Kings will take on the defending champions Islamabad United in a do or die game of HBL Pakistan Super League 2019 Eliminator 1, tonight at the National Stadium Karachi. The Kings has to win today if they want to keep themselves alive in the tournament, if they lose, they will be out of the league and United will be through.

In front of a jam-pack stadium, on their home turf, Karachi Kings will be desperate to turn the wheels of fortune as they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Karachi Kings have a solid batting line-up with Babar Azam, Colin Munro, Liam Livingstone and Colin Ingram as their key batsmen. Munro is yet to make a big mark, the other three have been contributing regularly.

Mohammad Amir, Umer Khan and Usman Shinwari would be the leaders in the bowling department. Amir was their best bowler in the last match and claimed figures of 3-24. The skipper Imad Wasim hopes his team catches Islamabad napping, following their last game against Peshawar Zalmi, he said, “We are looking forward to playing against Islamabad. We have had a lot of good battles against them and they have obviously won a lot of games against us.”

On the other hand, star batsman Luke Ronchi is the highest run-scorer for Islamabad and has close to 300 runs which include three half-centuries. While Cameron Delport is another batsman who struck the fastest century off 49 balls and propelled United to the largest total in PSL history.

Sami led Islamabad United has a strong pace attack, which also comprises Faheem Ashraf (19 wickets) and Rumman Raees (seven wickets), and young guns like Musa Khan and Ammad Butt. In Shadab Khan and Samit Patel, Islamabad have two good spinners who can check the flow of runs and also claim crucial wickets.

The winner of today’s match will lock horns against Peshawar Zalmi in Eliminator 2 on Friday.

Karachi Kings: Babar Azam, Colin Munro, Liam Livingstone, Colin Ingram, Ben Dunk (wk), Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim (c), Sohail Khan, Mohammad Amir, Umer Khan, Usman Khan Shinwari

Islamabad United: Luke Ronchi (wk), Cameron Delport, Alex Hales, Chadwick Walton, Asif Ali, Hussain Talat, Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Sami (c), Muhammad Musa, Rumman Raees