KARACHI: The National Bank Stadium was packed with more people than it was a day earlier, and there was a palpable sense of excitement in the air. Even though half of their team had food illnesses, the Karachi Kings were still there.
The Gladiators needed 80 off the last eight overs with five wickets in hand when Hosein joined Rutherford. What followed was a show of immense power by the two left-handers.
Rutherford and Hussein each smashed a six in the next five balls after captain Rilee Rossouw departed, relieving pressure on Quetta, who needed 44 off 24 balls.
Rutherford dispatched Hasan to the top of the roof over the stands on square-leg before picking pacer Blessing Muzarabani up and over wide long-on for another maximum.
In the penultimate over, he hit Hasan for another six. In the last over, he cleared the long-off boundary to hit Anwar Ali for two more sixes.
Still needing to defend three off four balls, Anwar bowled two well directed Yorkers for dots. He followed it up with a low full toss and Rutherford slashed it to backward point, where it was fielded brilliantly.
After Khawaja Nafay was dismissed in the ninth over after he was caught by Irfan’s bucket hands at long-on off leg-spin from Zahid Mahmood, wicket-keeper Tim Seifert then caught Sarfraz Ahmed off Hasan in the next over with an incredible effort down the leg-side.
Shoaib Malik then provided the major breakthrough; the veteran off-spinner forcing a top-edge off Roy and grabbing the catch himself in the 12th over. Rossouw lost his patience and became Zahid’s first victim as he found Irfan at the wide long-on boundary, leaving the match inclined towards the Kings before Rutherford and Hosein took it away.
Usman, in particular, was nearly unplayable for the Karachi batters with his unconventional bowling approach, which involves a crisp run-up followed by a pause and toss. He finished with figures of 2-16 in four overs without giving up a single boundary.
He bagged the crucial wickets of Karachi opener Seifert and first-drop James Vince after they had put up 57 off 36 balls together following the early dismissal of captain Shan Masood by Hosein.
Following the departure of Seifert and Vince, none of the Karachi batters was able to make a significant impact, but they all made little contributions that helped the team reach a competitive total.
The wickets took Karachi to the back foot, but Nawaz crunched pacer Mohammad Wasim Jr for three fours in a row to take his team to 91-3 at halfway stage. Abrar was exposed to Rossouw by Malik, and Hosein was then sliced by Nawaz (28) directly into Abrar’s hands. In the last over, Anwar smashed the bowler for two increasing sixes and slid Wasim for a four, setting up a last-ball finish. Abrear had cleaned up Pollard and had Hasan caught.
