PSL 2020: Match 2, Karachi Kings vs Peshawar Zalmi – Yet another fifty for Babar Azam, Karachi's rare win over Peshawar and more stats

Karachi Kings started off the 2020 edition of the PSL with a win as they edged past Peshawar Zalmi by 10 runs on Friday. Fifties from Babar Azam (78) and Imad Wasim (50) helped Karachi finish on 201/4 as the duo shared a 93-run partnership in 9.1 overs for the 3rd wicket.

Peshawar’s chase saw early setbacks as they lost two wickets inside four overs. Kamran Akmal, who scored 43 off 26, was cleaned up in the 10th over at 81/4. However, Liam Livingstone led the fightback for Zalmi with an unbeaten 29-ball 54. He put on 62 in only five overs with Daren Sammy (30) but was not enough to seal a win.

All the statistical highlights from Karachi Kings’ close win against the Peshawar Zalmi:

A rare win for Karachi over Peshawar:

3-8 – Only the 3rd time that the Karachi Kings defeated Peshawar Zalmi in the PSL across 11 meetings. This win also put an end to their 4-match losing streak against Peshawar which began after winning the first meeting in the league stage of the 2018 edition.

A record total for Karachi:

201/4 – The total of 201/4 by Karachi Kings is their first-ever 200+ total in Pakistan Super League. Their previous highest was 190/5 against Quetta Gladiators in 2019 also in Karachi.

This is also the highest total that Peshawar Zalmi conceded in a PSL game. Quetta Gladiators posted 200/7 during the 2017 edition match hosted by Sharjah.

191/7 – Peshawar Zalmi’s total of 191/7 is now the 4th highest total by them in PSL and also the 2nd highest during a run-chase. This is also the 2nd highest total by any side against Karachi Kings behind the last year’s 203/7 also recorded by Zalmi.

Yet another fifty in PSL for Babar:

10 – Babar Azam now has 10 fifties from 35 innings in the Pakistan Super League. Kamran Akmal (11 50+ scores in 47 innings) is the only other player with more than 10 fifty-plus scores in the PSL.

Yet another fifty for Livingstone in team’s debut:

54* – Liam Livingstone scored an unbeaten 54 in his maiden PSL game for the Peshawar Zalmi. Livingstone made his PSL debut in the last edition for Karachi Kings where he scored 82 opening the innings against Multan Sultans.

A tough day with the ball for Arshad and Hasan:

51 – Arshad Iqbal gave away 51 runs in this game; the 3rd bowler to concede 50+ runs in a PSL match for Karachi Kings. Sohail Khan conceded 57 runs against Multan Sultans and Aamer Yamim was taken for 54 runs by Quetta Gladiators; both in the previous edition.

52 – The 52 runs conceded by Hasan Ali are the 2nd most by him in a PSL match as he gave away 53 runs during 2018 edition game against Islamabad United. This is overall the 5th instance of a Peshawar Zalmi bowler conceding 50+ runs in a PSL game but Hasan is the first to concede twice.

2 – Arshad Iqbal and Hasan Ali recorded only the 2nd instance of two bowlers conceding 50+ runs in a PSL match. Rahat Ali (51) and Shane Watson (50) were taken apart by Lahore Qalandars while representing Quetta Gladiators in the 2018 season.

A milestone catch for Malik:

151 – The first of the two catches claimed by Shoaib Malik in this match was his 150th catch as a fielder in the Twenty20 format. He is now the first player from Pakistan and overall the 7th player to claim 150 T20 catches as a fielder.

Babar and Hasan at the top in Karachi-Peshawar battles:

3 – Babar Azam has scored three fifties in ten PSL matches against Peshawar Zalmi; the joint-most fifty-plus scores by any player against them in the PSL. Ahmed Shehzad also scored three fifties in 12 PSL innings against Zalmi. Babar scored a total of 297 PSL runs against Zalmi which are the 2nd most behind Shane Watson’s 375 runs.

13 – Hasan Ali now has picked up 13 wickets across 9 PSL matches against Karachi Kings. These are the most number of PSL wickets against Karachi surpassing Mohammad Sami (12) and Wahab Riaz (12) with the two wickets he took in this match.