KARACHI, Pakistan: Karachi Kings qualified for the semifinals and eliminated two-time champion Islamabad United from the Pakistan Super League after a four-wicket win on Saturday.
Islamabad, playing without its four departed overseas players, was restricted to 136-6 after being sent in to bat in a National Stadium empty of fans because of coronavirus fears.
Karachi won with 137-6 in 19.2 overs.
Sharjeel Khan, with 37 from 14 balls, provided Karachi a whirlwind start of 60 runs in the first five overs. But the dismissals of Sharjeel by fast bowler Akif Javed, and Babar Azam, bowled on 19 by paceman Mohammad Musa, helped Islamabad to take the game deep.
Legspinner Shadab Khan grabbed 2-28 to leave Karachi needing 18 off the last two overs.
No. 8 batsman Umaid Asif (13 not out) hit a six off Shadab in the penultimate over, and hit the winning boundary against left-arm seamer Rumman Raees.
Hussain Talat top-scored for Islamabad with 37 and Phil Sault, playing his first PSL game this season, made 25.
Offspinner Iftikhar Ahmed bowled well on a slow pitch and took 1-12 off his three overs as Islamabad struggled to accelerate in the latter half of its innings.
Islamabad, PSL winner in 2016 and 2018, won only three of its 10 league matches and missed the top four places for the first time.
Karachi plays for second on Sunday against Quetta Gladiators in the last league match.
Karachi reaches PSL semifinals, eliminates Islamabad
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Karachi reaches PSL semifinals, eliminates Islamabad
- This is the first time Pakistan is hosting all the PSL matches on home grounds
- Around 36 foreign cricketers took part in Pakistan’s biggest sporting event
Liverpool’s Slot says football must do more after Vinicius racism allegation
- The Dutchman said Jeremie Frimpong is still out this weekend but fellow defender Joe Gomez is ready to start if needed
Liverpool manager Arne Slot says more needs to be done to avoid racism in football following allegations by Real Madrid’s Brazilian forward Vinicius Jr that he was subjected to racist abuse from Benfica’s Argentine winger Gianluca Prestianni.
Real’s 1-0 Champions League playoff first-leg win at Benfica on Tuesday was overshadowed by Vinicius accusing Prestianni of directing a racist slur at him, a charge denied by the Portuguese club, the player and their manager Jose Mourinho.
European soccer’s governing body UEFA said it was reviewing the incident, which led to the game being halted for 11 minutes under FIFA’s anti-racism protocol.
“In general you can never do enough, you can always do more to make sure this (racism in football) never happens again,” Slot told reporters ahead of Liverpool’s Premier League visit to relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
“We have to try as a football community to do more than society does. That’s maybe not so difficult, by the way. Protocol was followed in the game, that’s the first step,” he said on Thursday.
“I would hope my players would act in a similar way — immediately address it, and the referee acts in a similar way.”
Regarding the Forest game, Slot expects a different set-up under the Midlands club’s new manager Vitor Pereira compared to the meeting in November when Liverpool lost 3-0 at Anfield.
Former Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Pereira was appointed last Sunday to replace the sacked Sean Dyche.
“We only have tonight (Thursday) to see if this new manager changes personnel,” Slot said, referring to Forest’s first game under Pereira at Fenerbahce in a Europa League playoff tie.
“The good thing is they have that game, and the manager was in the Premier League last season.”
The Dutchman said Jeremie Frimpong is still out this weekend but fellow defender Joe Gomez is ready to start if needed.
Slot said his side have improved over the past few months, with Liverpool sixth in the table on 42 points from 26 games.
“We have improved compared to three, four months ago. We are in a much better place than months ago,” the 47-year-old added.
“There are more reasons, but the most simple two are how fit we are and that we’re much better at set-pieces at the moment.”
Forest are languishing in 17th spot, one place and three points above West Ham United in the relegation zone.
