ViNcE blitZ, imad’s hEroics fail to powEr KiNgs to Victory agaiNst sultaNs

MULTAn

Staff RepoRt

JAMESVince’s blistering 75 and skipper Imad Wasim’s crucial 46-run knock went in vain as Multan Sultans held their nerves calm to edge Karachi Kings by three runs in the high-scoring Pakistan Super League (PSL) eight thriller on Wednesday.

Set to chase 197, the Kings fell just three runs short as the side could finish at 194/5 despite a heroic knock by their captain Imad.

Earlier, the Kings openers gave their side a flying start as they added brisk 72 runs in just six overs with Vince leading the charge as he struck the fastest half-century of the ongoing edition in just 20 deliveries.

Usama Mir then broke the shackles for the Sultans soon after the powerplay as he dismissed Matthew Wade on the first delivery of his spell to script his side’s comeback in the run chase. Wade could score 20 off 14 deliveries.

Meanwhile, Vince carried on to charge on the Sultans’ bowlers amid his 33-run partnership with Haider Ali before a mixup between the wickets brought curtains on his great knock. The right-handed batter topscored for the Kings with a 34-ball 75 that featured seven boundaries and six sixes.

The Kings then endured another setback in the run chase when Khushdil Shah removed Haider in the 12th over and the visitors consequently slipped to 113/3.

Following the slump, veteran batter Shoaib Malik and skipper Imad attempted to anchor the run chase as the pair added 35

india pledge all-out attack to break australia grip at t20 world cup

CApE TOwn agencieS runs for the fourth wicket before the latter fell in the 17th over after scoring 13 off 19. Skipper Imad, however, kept the game alive with belligerent hitting as he took Mohammad Ilyas to the cleaners in the 19th over but Abbas Afridi held his composure in the tense final over and successfully defended 22 runs to steer his side to glory. Imad remained unbeaten with a brisk 47-run knock in just 26 balls, laced with five sixes.

Australia and England are hot favourites to reach Sunday’s final of the Women’s T20 World Cup, but India captain Harmanpreet Kaur believes there is a factor which can alter the odds. “Pressure,” she said, looking ahead to Thursday’s semi-final against Australia at Newlands in Cape Town. “In World Cup games both teams are under pressure.” England play South Africa in the second semi-final on Friday Australia and England were unbeaten in the group stages and prevailed with attacking cricket when their superiority was challenged. “They attack a lot,” said 19-year-old India wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh. “So, whatever happens to them, even if the batter is out, they don’t stop attacking. We also have good batting depth, so will be playing an attacking game.” The odds, however, are against India. Defending champions Australia have won nine of the pair’s last 10 meetings with the other game ending in a tie. When they met in the 2020 final in Melbourne, Australia cantered to an 85-run win after bowling out India for just 99. However, skipper Meg Lanning said Wednesday that there will be no complacency in her team.

‘GrEaT dEpTh’ “I think that India have shown that they’re not relying on one or two players. They’ve got some great depthas well,” she said. “We both start at the same level tomorrow. It doesn’t matter what’s happened previously in this tournament or previous games. It’s about what happens on the park tomorrow. And yeah, we feel like if we play our best cricket, that will give us a really good chance to win.” Australia are expected to triumph and are largely impervious to the pressures that Kaur spoke about as winners of five out of seven T20 World Cups and seven 50-over World Cups. Australia will be appearing at Newlands for the first time in the tournament after playing their group matches in Paarl and Gqeberha. If anything the extra bounce and pace at Newlands should suit their stroke-playing batters as well as exciting fast bowler Darcie Brown and leg-spinner Georgia Wareham.

They have a bowling attack which has yet to concede more than the 124 runs scored by South Africa. India have a strong batting line-up in which Jemima Rodrigues, Smriti Mandhana and hard-hitting Ghosh have been in the runs.

Abbas led the bowling attack for the Sultans with 2/55 while Usama and Khushdil could pick up a wicket.

Put into bat first by the Kings, the Sultans piled up a mammoth 196/1 in their set of 20 overs with their skipper Mohammad Rizwan leading the charge with a magnificent century.