The commentary is not available for this match. Please check the scorecard for latest updates.
That brings us to the end of our coverage of the PSL for today. We will be back tomorrow evening with more of the same - The Quetta Gladiators play their first game of the tournament against the Multan Sultans! Join us at 7:30 for coverage of the same. This is Rajarshi, signing off on behalf of myself and Pratyush. Good night!
Babar Azam, Peshawar Zalmi captain: It was very important to win the first match with the new franchise. We wanted to start on a good note. The batting was great. The credit goes to the bowlers too, for the way they bowled in the powerplay and held their nerve at the end with the dew. We wanted to stick to our plans with every bowler. Khurram was brilliant up front but even at the end with the wet ball. Whenever I play, I try to give my best. The way we planned the innings, Tom was executing the big shots and I was just trying to get him on strike. You have to improve in all areas at all times, can't be focusing on one. We could have scored a few more runs. We also have to make sure we don't bowl so many no balls.
Imad Wasim, Karachi Kings captain: We bowled really well. TKC and Babar did really well. The thing was that 200 was chasable, but we didn't start well, lost too many wickets upfront, that was the key. It was a very good pitch, credit to the groundsman, it was a great wicket. We thought it was going to stay low, but it was absolutely perfect. Because the wicket was so good, we tried to play cricketing shots. We could have won the game had Shoaib bhai stayed with me till the end. It's the first game of the tournament for us, we'll take lot of positives. Happy with the bowling, you go out of the park on these kind of wickets. but the batters need to get in and back themselves to score runs, big runs.
Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Player of the Match: It's a very nice pitch to have, nearly 400 runs were scored on this wicket today. You can't take too many balls to settle in on here and need to try and put up a big score on the board. If you constantly play cricket, hit balls, it keeps your momentum, for me it's nice to be able to contribute tonight and for us to get over the line. (On his partnership with Babar Azam) We had some pre-game plans, it was just about following those, building a partnership, and kind of making match-winning contributions. It was great to bat out there with Babar tonight, and to be able to watch him up close was awesome.
Tom Kohler-Cadmore is the Player Of The Match
Right, time for the presentations now.
James Neesham: It's fantastic. It was an amazing atmosphere. Happy to come up with the win but there are a few things for us to clean up on. I didn't drop mine (catch), I didn't even get a hand on it. It's the first game, no one's a hundred percent yet, but we'll get there. There's no time to be rusty, that's the nature of franchise tournaments. It was pretty wet towards the end with the dew coming down. It was a bit messy but when you handle situations like that, it gives you confidence to do well later in the tournament when the tough games also come along.
Imad Wasim: It was a decent score. It was a 200-wicket. If one batter would have got himself in, we could have won it. Credit to the ground staff for a great wicket. You can't buy experience. These are situations where he (Malik) would win us the game 9/10 times. Hopefully, we'll get over the line next time. It was hard to bowl on this surface, but it was lovely to bat. The key was to take wickets, which they did early on. We'll get together and figure out how to go about our bowling plans. Our batting didn't click today but hopefully it does next time.
Tom Kohler-Cadmore 92 (50) | James Neesham 2/26 (4) Imad Wasim 80*(47) | Mir Hamza 1/13 (2)
That contest was the raw definition of a humdinger! The viewers had very little idea of which way this contest was heading until the final delivery of the match! The Karachi Kings had it going into the slog overs, and despite not enjoying any sort of luck, with catches being dropped and front feet landing over the popping crease in delivery strides, the Peshawar Zalmi bowlers, Wahab Riaz and Khurram Shahzad in particular towards the end, kept their composure, stuck to their plans, and delivered at crunch moments!
Wahab Riaz delivered a breakthrough early on in the chase, sending Sharjeel Khan back to the hut off the second ball. Matthew Wade tried to go on the counter attack after that. He was starting to look good, making the most of the powerplay, but holed out trying to hack Neesham across the line. The scoreboard pressure then went on to account for two youngsters - Qasim Akram and Haider Ali failed to make an impression today.
Imad Wasim and Shoaib Malik then got together and began a passage of play full of consolidation. At one stage, the way they were playing risk-free cricket, not going after the bowling, one might have been a bit befuddled with their approach. It turned out to be a productive one, though, as the duo looked to keep the scoreboard ticking and punished the bad balls. It wasn't until the 13th over that they began to cut loose properly. The duo tonked an economical Shakib for 21 in the over, and from then on, the game was right in the balance.
That over helped the Kings gain a lot of momentum. They maintained the required rate really well since then, and going into the penultimate over, they needed exactly two runs a ball. There was a crucial dropped chance in the penultimate over, a wicket off a no ball as well, but Wahab Riaz managed to keep the equation to 16 off the final over. Khurram Shahzad then went on to land it in the blockhole throughout the final over. He overstepped on one occasion as well, but that didn't account for much eventually as the Peshawar Zalmi made it 5 wins against the Kings in the last 6 encounters between these two teams!
Khurram Shahzad roars in delight! He missed the yorker off the final delivery, but it hardly mattered anymore! Despite the sundries, he landed them on the batting crease all along and bowled his team to a victory in the end! It is Peshawar Zalmi, who take the game after a series of twists and turns throughout the run-chase!
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B Azam
I Wasim
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National Stadium, Karachi
