Peshawar Zalmi 246 for 3 (Mendis 109, Babar 87*, Samad 40*, Afridi 2-55) beat Karachi Kings 87 (Azam 25, Rana 3-7, Iftikhar 3-9, Muqeem 3-18) by 159 runs
Karachi Kings suffered the heaviest defeat in the history of the PSL, as Peshawar Zalmi, led by a century from Kusal Mendis and an unbeaten 87 from Babar Azam, romped to a 159-run win in Karachi.
The two teams had been undefeated before the game this season and while Zalmi brought momentum with them their thrilling win against Hyderabad Kingsmen last night, Kings were scratchy after a week-long break.
Kings' captain David Warner got the pitch wrong, terming it a "day five" surface, and their fielders fumbled regularly, as Mendis was afforded a reprieve and regulation cuts went to the fence.
Zalmi, from their end, produced a pitch-perfect performance. Mendis (109 off 52) smashed the fastest century by a Zalmi batter in the PSL and produced a record 191-run stand with Babar, who got his runs in 51 balls. The two put together the highest-ever PSL partnership of 191 runs before Abdul Samad's 12-ball 40 took Zalmi to their highest-ever total: 246. Zalmi's bowlers then skittled Kings for just 87 - the lowest PSL score in Karachi - in 16.1 overs.
The first innings was a delight for traditionalists as Babar and Mendis - two of the most technically sound batters around - produced sumptuous cuts, drives, flicks and sweeps with occasional improvisations behind the wicket. The experience these two brought offset any pressure that the second-ball wicket of Mohammad Haris may have brought on Zalmi. They took turns in hitting boundaries from the second over and had their side sitting comfortably at 66 for 1 after the powerplay.
Mendis raced to 50 in only 26 balls and Babar followed him by crossing the milestone in 32 balls. He went onto become the fastest to 12,000 T20 runs - a landmark he reached in 338 innings - five better than Chris Gayle - with a six off Khushdil Shah.
Their partnership was dominated by Mendis, who contributed 109 runs. He eventually brought up his century in 48 balls.
A total beyond 200 had become certain after Adam Zampa was tonked for 18 in the 13th over, which took Zalmi to 150 for 1, but that they would go so far was because of the sparkling cameo from Samad. He plundered Abbas Afridi for three sixes in the penultimate over and Mir Hamza for three fours and a six in the final over to take the game out of the home side's reach. Kings badly missed Hasan Ali, who has bowled at only 4.80 runs per over in the death this season and had to sit this game out because of a fever.
It took only seven balls for Zalmi to dismiss Kings' openers - Warner and Muhammad Waseem - and Salman Agha was removed at the start of the third over, leaving the hosts reeling at 8 for 3. Zalmi did not have to face any resistance on their way to victory as Kings fell for 87, with ftikhar Ahmed, Nahid Rana and Sufyan Muqeem taking three wickets each.
