PES VS KAR T20S

That is it from this game but action in the 2023 Pakistan Super League continues on Thursday, the 2nd of March. It will be Lahore Qalandars taking on Quetta Gladiators at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. That game will begin at 7.30 pm IST (2 pm GMT) but you can join us a lot early for the build-up as well. Cheers!

Peshawar Zalmi skipper, Babar Azam says back-to-back wickets fell early and that put some pressure on their batting order. Credits Haseebullah Khan, Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Rovman Powell for playing really well and taking them to a formidable total. Claims that he told the batters after the toss that 180-190 is possible on this wicket and they managed to achieve it. Credits the bowlers for following up well and says that they executed the plans well. Ends by saying that it was an important match for them and and the team will also be really happy.

Rovman Powell (64 off 34 balls) is the PLAYER OF THE MATCH. Powell says that the wicket was very good and lauds the efforts of Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Haseebullah Khan as they gave him the platform to launch. Adds that it was important to play the first few balls vigilantly as he could then get his eye in and go big. Says that his form is improving with each game and he is happy to contribute to the team.

Imad Wasim, the captain of Karachi Kings says that they did not bowl well and they have not managed to finish their bowling performance well. Explains that they need to bowl yorkers in the death overs and since there is no turn on offer the onus falls on the fast bowlers . Mentions that there are three more games and they need to be up for every match. Claims that it was tough for the spinners and Shamsi bowled really well. Reckons that they could have restricted the opponents to under 180 and 200 was par score not winning score. Feels that they need to come hard in the remaining games and executes their plans. Ends by saying that they are still in the tournament and with 3 games to go they hope to get into a winning run.

The Presentation ceremony...

Aamer Jamal comes up for a quick chat. He gives credit to the batters and says they batted really well to take them to a good total. Mentions that the length is really important for the bowlers to focus on and that is what he did when he was planning for the hat-trick ball. Claims that the atmosphere in the dressing room has always been good and they want to take one game at the time. Ends by saying that Darren Sammy has always managed to boost their moral and keeps telling them to let things go.

Earlier in the game, Imad Wasim won the toss and put Peshawar Zalmi into bat which proved to be an excellent decision as Mohammad Amir got the new ball to swing and picked up 3 wickets in the blink of an eye. Then came the counter-punch from Haseebullah Khan and Tom Kohler-Cadmore as the pair steadied the ship for Zalmi. Khan fell but Rovman Powell stepped up and took the Kings's bowlers apart. Khan, Kohler-Cadmore and Powell all got half-centuries and that ensured that Zalmi ended up with a big score on the board. As for the Kings, it was Mohammad Amir who picked up 4 wickets but apart from him, it was only Tabraiz Shamsi who bowled well. The wicket was excellent and the boundaries were small but Karachi Kings failed to keep wickets in hand at the backend and went on to lose the game by 24 runs.

Karachi Kings needed a strong start from their openers and initially that is exactly what they got. But once Adam Rossington fell, the next three batters that came in, simply couldn't put up a fight. Matthew Wade continued to play a single-handed knock and reached a half-century but as the pressure started to mount, he too fell. Ben Cutting got a couple of big hits away but they just kept on losing wickets. It was then some sensational hitting from skipper Imad Wasim who remained unbeaten on 57 off just 30 balls and one might wonder, what would have happened if he received a bit more support from the others. In the end, the Kings succumbed to a fifth loss and will now find it difficult to get back into the playoffs mix.

After posting a huge total of 197 on the board, Peshawar Zalmi didn't start ideally with the ball but once they got the first wicket, they were able to get a control of proceedings. Azmatullah Omarzai ripped through the middle order and picked up three wickets as his fellow Afghan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman picked up a couple of wickets as well. Aamer Jamal was impressive in the middle phase and then came back at the death to pick up wickets as well, ending up with three but got ripped apart in his final over going for 22 runs. The likes of Wahab Riaz and Arshad Iqbal failed to contribute much with the ball but everyone else did the job excellently well.

'Turning things around,' that is exactly what Peshawar Zalmi have managed to do in this game as they have gone from being under all sorts of trouble at the satrt of the game to winning the match quite comfortably in the end, even though it would have been a much bigger margin if not for Imad Wasim.

A couple of runs to end the inning for Karachi Kings!

FOUR! Imad Wasim would have been hoping for some support from the other end as he has played a gem of an inning. Arshad Iqbal bowls this full and outside the off stump. Imad Wasim thumps this towards long off and collects yet another boundary.

FIFTY for Imad Wasim! Arshad Iqbal bowls this back of a length and into the batter. Imad Wasim pushes this towards wide long on and they run well to complete a couple of runs.

Bowls a low full toss once again outside off. Imad Wasim hits this to the long off fielder and refuses the run.

FOUR! A bit of luck once again and it takes Imad Wasim one run away from his half-century! A full toss bowled outside the off pole. Imad Wasim reaches for it and slices the ball over short third man for four runs.

Arshad Iqbal bowls an off-cutter on a fuller length and outside the off stump. Imad Wasim pushes at this one and gets a faint outside edge. The bowler goes up in appeal but the wicket-keeper is not sure if he has caught it cleanly. The umpires go upstairs to check if the catch is taken cleanly. UltraEdge confirms there is an edge and replays show the ball falls just short of the wicket-keeper.

Is that out? The keeper, Haseebullah Khan doesn't think so but the onfield umpire seems to have deemed it as an outside edge. The decision is sent upstairs to check the fair catch and the soft signal is Not Out. The replays show that the ball indeed bounced before going into the keeper's gloves and hence, the lukewarm reaction. Not Out!