PSL 2020: Match 28, Karachi Kings vs Islamabad United – Sharjeel Khan's blitz, Islamabad United's early elimination and more stats

Karachi Kings confirmed their playoff berth with a 4-wicket win against Islamabad United who were in a must-win situation. Islamabad began well scoring 59/1 after 7 overs but lacked acceleration in the middle and death overs. They finished with 136/6 in their 20 overs; a total that looked too less in front of Sharjeel Khan’s blitz. Karachi raced to 60/0 before 5th over but the wicket of Sharjeel began to turn the things into Islamabad hands. At one stage, the equation came down to 30 needed from 18 balls which the Karachi’s middle and lower-order chased down with four balls to spare.

All the statistical highlights from Karachi Kings’ narrow win against Islamabad United on Saturday:

Islamabad fails to get through to the final four:

1 – Islamabad United failed to qualify for the playoffs/semi-finals for the first time in the five editions of the Pakistan Super League. Islamabad finished in top four during previous four editions of the tournament including two titles wins.

2-0 – Karachi Kings won both their matches in this tournament against the Islamabad United. They defeated United by 5 wickets earlier this season in Rawalpindi. Islamabad won the previous four meetings in the PSL against Karachi and lead the head to head record by 8-6.

Sharjeel’s quick-fire knock:

1 – Sharjeel Khan became the first player in the Pakistan Super League history to smash the first ball of a team’s innings for a six. Sharjeel pulled the first ball of Karachi’s chase for a maximum in the bowling of Musa Khan.

264.28 – Sharjeel had a batting strike rate of 264.28 during his 14-ball 37 in this match. This is the 2nd highest SR for Karachi Kings during a PSL inning of 10+ balls. The highest is Colin Munro’s 290.90 during his 11-ball 32 also against Islamabad United in the previous edition.

2006 – Sharjeel Khan completed 2000 runs in the Twenty20 format during his 37-run knock. Sharjeel scored those runs at an average of 26.74 and a strike rate of 141.36.

No big scores from the individuals:

37 – Hussain Talat and Sharjeel Khan’s 37 is the highest individual score during this match. Only two completed matches in the Pakistan Super League recorded lower “highest individual score” – 33 during the Lahore-Quetta match in 2017 and 36 during an Islamabad-Karachi match in 2018.

A slow inning from Delport:

45.83 – Cameron Delport had a batting strike rate of 45.83 during his 11 off 24 in the run-chase. This is now the joint 3rd slowest knock of 10+ runs in the Pakistan Super League history. Mohammad Nawaz made 10 off 26 at a strike rate of 38.46 during last Saturday’s match between Quetta and Lahore.

Gulraiz Sadaf got 13 runs from 31 balls at a rate of 41.94 for Lahore against Quetta in 2018. Ahmed Shehzad also scored 11 from 24 deliveries for Multan Sultans against Islamabad United in the 2018 edition.