Karachi Kings ease past Quetta Gladiators

Dubai - Shahid Afridi came up with one of the best catches in recent times

Shahid Afridi came up with one of the best catches in recent times. Positioned at long-on he pulled off an absolute blinder.
It all started with an Umar Amin shot which looked like clearing the boundary of the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. But from nowhere Afridi came charging in, stuck his right hand out, plucked the ball from thin air, threw it up as he realised he was about to run over the rope, and then ran back in to complete the catch.
Soon all his teammates ran across to congratulate him while the vociferous crowd went berserk. The catch turned the match in Karachi Kings' favour. They didn't look back after that on their way to a 19-run win over twice runners-up Quetta Gladiators in the third edition of the Pakistan Super League.
Chasing 150 to win Quetta lost early wickets of Asad Shafiq, Shane Watson and Kevin Pietersen, And, though Umar Amin (31), Rilee Roussouw (18), Mohammad Nawaz (30) and Hasan Khan (17 not out) tried to keep Quetta in the run chase they found runs hard to come by as Karachi captain Imad Wasim (4-0-19-2) and Afridi (4-0-23-1) maintained a tight leash on them. Earlier, Imad won the toss and opted to bat. Joe Denly and Khurram Manzoor gave them a decent start but for Denly's unfortunate run-out when Watson, on his follow through after bowling, got his fingers to a straight drive from Manzoor and the ball hit the non-striker's end to catch Denly short of his crease.
Manzoor and Colin Ingram revived the innings to an extent, but Manzoor departed scoring 35.
Man of the match Ingram upped the scoring during his knock of 41 from 21 balls - the South African blasting two sixes and five fours during his stay at the wicket.
In came Shahid 'boom boom' Afridi and the decibel levels of the cheering crowd rose to a crescendo. It was not a packed stadium though, unlike on Thursday, yet it was loud enough to reverberate around the stadium. But the hard-hitting Afridi failed to deliver and was out for 4. Ravi Bopara struck four boundaries for his 24 from 18 balls but KK lost their way towards the end after six wickets fell for 13 runs.
Shane Watson did the damage with three wickets in quick succession. Anwar Ali and Jofra Archer chipped in with two each.