ISLAMABAD: Sarfaraz Ahmed-led Quetta Gladiators kept their Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2022 hopes alive by beating Karachi Kings by 23 runs at the Qaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Sunday.
Pakistan’s professional T20 cricket league, PSL, has gone on to become the country’s biggest sporting event over the last couple of years. It features six teams competing in a T20 cricket league, each franchise representing a Pakistani city.
Jason Roy, who had earlier smashed a century this season, once again displayed excellent skills as a batter, scoring 82 runs off 64 balls. James Vince and Iftikhar Ahmed pitched in with respective scores of 29 and 21 to lend some support to their side.
Quetta finished 166/4 from their 20 overs.
In response, Karachi Kings made an impressive start to their innings, with opening batters Joe Clarke and Babar Azam forming an 87-run partnership. Clarke scored 52 runs off 39 balls while Azam scored 36 off 34 balls.
All other Karachi batters failed to make their mark after that.
Quetta’s Khurram Shahzad impressed all by taking four wickets in the match. Naseem Shah finished with two wickets from his four overs, giving away only 14 runs.
Quetta now have 8 points from the nine matches they have played so far. This puts them at the same level as Islamabad United, if one were to consider points and not the net run rate.
Quetta and Islamabad are in the race to qualify for the PSL playoff stage, with Multan, Lahore and Peshawar already in there.
Islamabad United will clash with Multan Sultans tonight at the same venue.
Quetta Gladiators hand Karachi Kings 9th defeat to keep PSL hopes alive
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Quetta Gladiators hand Karachi Kings 9th defeat to keep PSL hopes alive
- Khurram Shahzad’s four-wicket haul keeps Karachi Kings at bay
- Quetta now have 8 points from nine matches they have played so far
Pakistan mulls 'Super App' for public services, document verification in major technology push
- Pakistan has been urging technology adoption in public, private sectors as it seeks to become a key tech player globally
- The country this month launched the Indus AI Week to harness technology for productivity, skills development and innovation
KARACHI: Pakistan is planning to launch a “Super App” to deliver public services and enable digital document verification, the country's information technology (IT) minister said on Sunday, amid a major push for technology adoption in public and private sectors.
Pakistan, a country of 240 million people, seeks to become a key participant in the global tech economy, amid growing interest from governments in the Global South to harness advanced technologies for productivity, skills development and innovation.
The country's information and communications technology (ICT) exports hit a record $437 million in Dec. last year, according to IT Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja. This constituted a 23% increase month on month and a 26% increase year on year.
Pakistan's technology sector is also advancing in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing, marked by the launch of Pakistan’s first sovereign AI cloud in November, designed to keep sensitive data domestic and support growth in the broader digital ecosystem.
“In developed countries, citizens can access all government services from a mobile phone,” Fatima said, announcing plans for the Super App at an event in Karachi where more than 7,000 students had gathered for an AI training entrance test as part of the ‘Indus AI Week.’
“We will strive to provide similar facilities in the coming years.”
Khawaja said the app will reduce the need for in-person visits to government offices such as the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and the Higher Education Commission (HEC).
The Indus AI Week initiative, which ran from Feb. 9 till Feb. 15. was aimed at positioning Pakistan as a key future participant in the global AI revolution, according to the IT minister.
At the opening of the weeklong initiative, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced that Pakistan would invest $1 billion in AI by 2030 to modernize the South Asian nation’s digital economy.
“These initiatives aim to strengthen national AI infrastructure and make the best use of our human resource,” Khawaja said, urging young Pakistanis to become creators, inventors and innovators rather than just being the consumers of technology.
