KARACHI: Debutants Hyderabad Kingsmen beat former champions Karachi Kings by four wickets in the 11th match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) at the National Bank Stadium on Saturday.
Batting first, an anchoring half-century from Saad Baig and a quick cameo from stand-in captain Moeen Ali saw the home team post a mammoth total of 188/8 in 20 overs.
Paik top-scored for Kings with 53 off 37 balls with 6 fours, while captain Moeen scored 44 off 16 balls with 5 sixes and a four.
Apart from them, Azam Khan (26), Muhammad Wasim (25) and Salman Ali Agha (24) contributed significantly to the Kings’ total.
Hunain Shah led the Kingsmen bowling with three wickets for just 19 runs in his four overs, followed by Muhammad Ali with two wickets while skipper Marnus Labuschagne chipped in with a scalp.
In turn, an unbeaten 50 between Muhammad Irfan Khan and Hasan Khan helped the Kingsmen chase down a tough target of 189 runs with 6 wickets and 5 balls to spare.
Hasan scored an unbeaten 33 off 16 balls while Irfan remained unbeaten on 29 off 20 balls.
On the other hand, left-handed opener Mas Sadaq was the top scorer with 37 off 29 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes.
Kings bowlers Abbas Afridi took 2 wickets for 30 runs in his four overs while Hasan Ali, Khushdil Shah, Adam Jamba and Salman Ali Agha took one wicket each.
This four-wicket win for Hyderabad Kingsmen in their first PSL appearance came after four straight defeats against Lahore Qalandars, Quetta Gladiators, Multan Sultans and Peshawar Zalmi.
However, despite the much-anticipated win, the debutants finished seventh in the PSL 11 standings with two points from five games, while the Kings managed to retain fourth place with six points after as many games.
| Teams | Competitions | succeeds | Losses | No results | points | Net flow rate |
| Peshawar Salmi | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 3.103 |
| Sultans of Multan | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0.941 |
| Islamabad United | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 2.052 |
| Kings of Karachi | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | -1.395 |
| Quetta Gladiators | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0.456 |
| Lahore Colleagues | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4 | -0.863 |
| Hyderabad Kingsmen | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | -1.167 |
| Rawalpindi’s | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -1.864 |
Peshawar Zalmi lead the points table with nine points from five matches and are the only unbeaten side in the ongoing eight-team tournament.
The 2017 champions are closely followed by Multan Sultans, who are second with eight points from five matches, while three-time champions Islamabad United are third with seven points.
Last edition’s finalists Lahore Qalandars and Quetta Gladiators are fifth and sixth respectively in the PSL 11 standings as both the teams have four points after five games, but the latter has a better net run rate.