A superb 80* off 57 balls by Eoin Morgan helped Zalmi to chase down below-par total of 118.

By Abdullah Ansari (10th February, 2017)

Karachi Kings Team

Chris Gayle, Kumar Sangakkara, Shahzaib Hasan, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Ravi Bopara, Kieron Pollard, Imad Wasim, Sohail Khan, Mohammad Amir, Abrar Ahmed.

Peshawar Zalmi Team

Mohammad Hafeez, Dawid Malan, Kamran Akmal, Eoin Morgan, Haris Sohail, Shahid Afridi, Darren Sammy, Chris Jordan, Hasan Ali, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Asghar.

Darren Sammy won the toss and opted to field and the decision paid off straight away as Karachi got off to a terrible start. Shahzaib Hasan fell to Hafeez in the first over after a wild slog while Sammy took a stunning catch at slip to make up for his drop yesterday to dismiss Babar. Sangakkara was caught at midwicket and Gayle fell LBW to Hafeez as the Kings were reduced to 12/4 inside 5 overs. Malik and Bopara put on a partnership, albeit at a slow rate. The latter was dismissed trying to up the ante after making 33 off 40 while Malik perished at the death after making 44 off 36. Pollard added some crucial blows at the end to finish with 27* as Karachi made 118/7.

Karachi started their defence well as Amir bowled a couple of good overs up front, getting Hafeez for another duck. Sohail Khan got Kamran Akmal early as well but Malan and Morgan steadied the innings. The former fell for 22 in the 9th over to Imad and that was to be the last wicket for Karachi. Haris Sohail struggled against the spinners while Morgan was also circumspect. However, with the required run-rate touching eight, Morgan upped the ante successfully, getting to his fifty off 43 balls and carried on to finish the innings with aplomb, ending on 80* off 57 balls as Zalmi won with 9 balls to spare.

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