PSL is a success story that every Pakistani should be proud of. It took eight long years for the PCB to finally launch it, and when it happened, it began capturing everyone’s imagination: schools, offices, restaurants and shops – everyone was talking about it everywhere. Experts are now considering PSL as one of the biggest leagues in the world of cricket.
Quetta Gladiators’ impressive victory against Lahore Qalandars in the 15th match marked the end of the first leg of the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2022. After successfully hosting the first 15 matches of the tournament, the action will be now be shifted from Karachi to Lahore from February 10. The two-day break in between will allow teams to regroup and complete their planning as Peshawar Zalmi, Quetta Gladiators, and Karachi Kings have a lot of catching up to do.
As far as Karachi Kings are concerned, if we look at the last 6 seasons, this team somehow reaches the qualifiers while it once became the champion. It is worth mentioning here that cricket is always considered as a game of impossibilities in which it is difficult for anyone team to make a final prediction.
Undoubtedly the team which has suffered the most has been Karachi Kings. After appointing Babar Azam as captain, the Kings had hoped for a change of fortune but not the one where they would lose all five of their Karachi-leg matches. If you look at the Karachi Kings squad, apart from Babar Azam, no world-class batter was included.
Karachi Kings have only English batter Joey Clarke who became a part of the franchise by performing well in the recent Big Bash League. For any player, weather and wicket are of utmost importance and since Joey Clarke came to Pakistan for the first time, he has had great difficulty in adjusting to the local conditions and as a result, he has failed to show his full potential.
In addition to Joe Clarke, Karachi Kings have the services of Louis Gregory, whom Babar Azam made part of his own team as the Pakistan captain had played along with Louis Gregory in Somerset. However, Louis Gregory also failed to show any significant performance. One of the reasons for this may be that the batting all-rounder is more valuable than the bowling all-rounder in the T20s.
If we talk about England’s Chris Jordan, he is undoubtedly a good bowler of T20 format but he had played only two matches for Karachi Kings so it is not appropriate to question his performance. To pile more misery on them, the Kings have also lost main pacers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Ilyas due to injuries.
If we talk about the local players of Karachi Kings, there is no doubt that Sharjeel Khan is an explosive opener and played good innings against Multan Sultan in the first match but later he failed also to score. Sahibzada Farhan was Pakistan’s top scorer in the recent domestic season, it was also a good inclusion but unlike the domestic season, he could not show his colors in PSL.
There are talented bowlers like Amir Yameen, Umaid Asif, Mohammad Ilyas in the franchise but here also the absence of Mohammad Amir was noticeable because unless the absence of a big name makes a significant difference in the performance of other players.
This year, Karachi Kings got two emerging players – Muhammad Taha and Rohail Nazir. Taha has played all five matches but when it comes to usage of emerging players, the responsibility falls on the captain. This is the same Mohammad Taha who led Sindh to victory in the recent domestic match by displaying extraordinary batting.
Taha is failed to show his abilities due to his batting slot. It is true that the management should warn the player who is making a mistake and ignoring the captain’s instructions but also use that player where the team needs him so that he can have a chance to correct his blunder.
Attributing blame to Babar Azam for Karachi’s worst performance is wrong. Because in the victory and defeat of any team, the whole management is equally responsible. Karachi Kings’ coach Wasim Akram is also responsible for the consecutive defeats.
Things are looking extremely difficult for Karachi Kings with the owner, Salman Iqbal, already making public statements and apologising for the franchise’s poor performances. Karachi Kings are weaker than other teams on papers and now if this team has to make a comeback then they have to play a very different game.
