LAHORE: Hasan Ali’s fine pace bowling, backed by an all-round display from Moeen Ali and captain David Warner’s belligerent knock steered Karachi Kings to a hard-earned 14-run victory over Quetta Gladiators in their HBL Pakistan Super League match here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Friday night.
Chasing a tough 182, Gladiators got off to a scintillating start but faltered in the middle and eventually managed to post 167-7 off the allotted overs.
Hasan (4-27) and his spin bowling partners Ali (1-26), Adam Zampa (1-26) and Salman Ali Agha (1-10 off two overs) successfully prevented their opponents from reaching the target.
Openers Shamyl Hussain and captain Saud Shakeel gave Gladiators a rollicking start of 79 in seven overs as they posted 75 in powerplay.
Shamyl smashed 52 off just 24 balls and hit five fours and four sixes while a relatively sedate Saud made 33 off 25 with the help of six fours.
After the solid start, Gladiators lost three wickets for the addition of 16 runs in the next three overs. Shamyl was first to go in the eighth over as he was caught by Ali at long on off Salman on his very first ball of the match. Khawaja Nafay (three) was the next as he was deceived by Zampa’s quicker one that shattered the stumps in the ninth over. Kings got a huge wicket when Saud was caught at deep cover by Khushdil off Ali as the batter tried to play a lofted inside-out stroke. Now Gladiators were 95-3 at halfway stage.
Rilee Rossouw (25 off 21) and Hasan Nawaz (19 off 24) tried to rescue their side by adding 29 runs as the Gladiators reached 100 in the 11th over.
After touching 124-3 in 15 overs and needing another 58 off the last five overs, it looked as if Gladiators will make it but it was not to be as Hasan rose to the occasion to derail their plans.
The right-armer first cleaned up Rossouw in the 16th over and then claimed a dream triple strike in the penultimate over of the match to smother Gladiators’ hopes.
He first dismissed Hasan Nawaz who was caught by Mohammad Waseem at long-off, then bowled Tom Curran on the very next ball to be on a hat-trick before ending the over with the scalp of tailender Ahmed Daniyal who was caught by Ali at backward point.
Needing 30 off the final over was always going to be tough as Gladiators managed to get only half of it despite the efforts of Ben McDermott (25 not out off 13).
Earlier after being sent in to bat first, captain David Warner’s hard hitting and a late onslaught by Ali helped Kings post 181-7 off the stipulated overs.
After losing opener Waseem who was caught by Rossouw at mid-on at the edge of the circle off pacer Alzarri Joseph in the opening over for a duck, Warner (35 off 22 balls) and Salman (22 off 10) launched a counter attack to take maximum advantage from powerplay.
The pair added 41 quick runs before Salman, who hit four fours and a six during his cameo, was trapped by fast bowler Ahmed in the fourth over as Kings slumped to 44-2.
Saad Baig (30 off 23) joined Warner as the pair, after reaching 50 in 4.3 overs, steered Kings to 60-2 at the end of powerplay.
After a 43-run stand, Saad was sent back by Ahmed — caught at midwicket boundary by Nafay in the ninth over. Kings were now 87-3. Saad struck six fours.
On the very next ball after Kings touched the 100-mark in 10.2 overs, mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed gave Gladiators a huge boost when left-handed Warner trying to play a paddle sweep got a leading edge to give the bowler an easy catch.
Kings got slower at this stage and got another blow when Azam Khan (14 off 14) was cleaned up by off-spinner Usman Tariq in the 14th over. They were now 109-5.
Southpaw Ali was joined by Khushdil shah (12 off eight) as they duo added 31 before the latter became Ahmed’s third victim in the 17th over. Kings reached 150 in 17.5 overs.
Man-of-the-match Ali in the meantime, playing aggressively unleashed a flurry of strokes to boost Kings towards a fighting total. Though in the process Kings lost Shahid Aziz (eight) in the 19th over to leave them at 160-7, Ali’s fireworks helped his team add 56 runs off the final five overs.
The all-rounder’s 48 not out came off just 29 balls and contained four fours and three sixes.
Ahmed took three wickets for 36, Joseph finished with 2-32 while spinners Abrar (1-35) and Usman (1-29) were the other wicket-takers.
SCOREBOARD
KARACHI KINGS:
David Warner c&b Abrar35
Mohammad Waseem c Rossouw b Joseph0
Salman Ali Agha lbw b Ahmed22
Saad Baig c Nafay b Ahmed30
Azam Khan b Usman14
Moeen Ali not out48
Khushdil Shah c Nafay b Ahmed12
Shahid Aziz c Rossouw b Joseph8
Hasan Ali not out7
EXTRAS (LB-4, W-1)5
TOTAL (for seven wickets, 20 overs)181
DID NOT BAT: Adam Zampa, Mir Hamza
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-3 (Waseem), 2-44 (Salman), 3-87 (Saad), 4-100 (Warner), 5-109 (Azam), 6-140 (Khushdil), 7-160 (Shahid)
BOWLING: Joseph 4-0-32-2, Curran 3-0-35-0, Ahmed 4-0-36-3, Abrar 4-0-35-1, Hasan 1-0-10-0, Usman 4-0-29-1 (1w)
QUETTA GLADIATORS:
Saud Shakeel c Khushdil b Ali33
Shamyl Hussain c Ali b Salman52
Khawaja Nafay b Zampa3
Rilee Rossouw b Hasan25
Hasan Nawaz c Waseem b Hasan19
Ben McDermott not out25
Tom Curran b Hasan0
Ahmed Daniyal c Ali b Hasan4
Alzarri Joseph not out3
EXTRAS (LB-1, W-2)3
TOTAL (for seven wickets, 20 overs) 167
DID NOT BAT: Abrar Ahmed, Usman Tariq
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-79 (Shamyl), 2-85 (Nafay), 3-95 (Saud), 4-124 (Rossouw), 5-148 (Hasan), 6-148 (Curran), 7-152 (Ahmed)
BOWLING: Ali 4-0-26-1, Hamza 4-0-57-0 (1w), Hasan 4-0-27-4, Shahid 1-0-13-0, Zampa 4-0-26-1, Salman 2-0-10-1 (1w), Khushdil 1-0-7-0
RESULT: Karachi Kings won by 14 runs.
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Moeen Ali
Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2026
