At the National Stadium in Karachi on Wednesday (February 28), Islamabad United defeated Karachi Kings by seven wickets to snap their three-match losing streak. United needed to chase 166 to win, and in 18.3 overs, they did so. Colin Munro (82 off 47) and Alex Hales (47 off 35) opened the score with a 108-run partnership that required just 69 balls. Kieron Pollard,

In the pursuit, United got off to a fast start as Hales and Munro consistently hit boundaries. In the powerplay, they each struck nine fours to move United to 58/0 and both into their 30s. Munro then went into overdrive, blasting three straight sixes off Tabraiz Shamsi and two fours off Aamir Khan. With this he quickly reaches a fifty off 25 balls. When Hasan Ali caught Hales, the partnership ended after reaching 108 in the twelfth over. Munro kept up his ferocious assault for the Kings. He stroke his eighth four after reverse-sweeping Mohammad Nawaz for his fourth six. It was a flip over a deep backward square leg.

But Munro’s innings ended in the fifteenth over when Nawaz trapped him in front. Shamsi bowled Imad Wasim  out the next over after he smashed a short ball from him straight to cover. For three overs, the Kings were able to cut out boundaries. But the damage caused by the opening stand was too much to overcome. With two sixes off Hasan Ali to close out the 19th over, Agha Salman gave his team an easy win.

When asked to bat first earlier, the Kings got off to a poor start as Shan Masood took his time getting going. Tim Seifert was also out of the game early, Imad stumped him not long after hitting a six. With good intentions, Leus du Plooy scored a couple of boundaries to get Kings to 46/1 at the end of the powerplay. However, his promising innings was ended when Salman bowled him for a mere 24 from 15 balls. Masood was eventually bowled by Hunain Shah for 27 off 30 after he was unable to really break loose. Kings lost cheap wickets to Shoaib Malik and Nawaz, bringing the total down to 89/5 in the fourteenth over.

Before Kieron Pollard went on the rampage and hit two fours off Rumman Raees in the 17th over, United managed to sneak in a couple of tight overs and keep Kings at bay. Raees cost a lot of money in the 19th over as well, giving up 16 runs, three of which came from Irfan Khan. Kieron Pollard Pollard ended unbeaten on 48 off 28 to assist Kings surpass 160 runs. He hit a six and a four in the last over against Hunain, which yielded 20 runs.