Labuschagne's masterclass help Hyderabad Kingsmen to go past Islamabad United

In a difficult Karachi pitch, Hyderabad Kingsmen defeated Islamabad United by 153 runs to win their second match in a row. The team batted calmly. Their captain Marnus Labuschagne carried the bat as he scored his first PSL half-century and cameos from Maaz Sadaqat and Glenn Maxwell in the powerplay and death provided the impetus on a surface that lacked pace and bounce, and one that made shot making difficult after the ball lost its sheen. Both top orders realized they needed to use as much power as possible, so they went crazy in the first six overs. United scored 57 for 1 and Kingsmen responded with 56 for 1, but the middle overs were the difference. United gave away their momentum with the back-to-back run outs of well-set Devon Conway (45 off 31) and Mohammad Faiq (18 off 14) in the 10th over, whereas Kingsmen continued to knock down the target with a match-defining partnership of 60 between Labuschagne (61 not out off 53) and Saim Ayub (35 off 26). Saim's dismissal off Faheem Ashraf sparked a mini collapse as Kingsmen lost three for five runs in 10 balls, but the experience of Labuschagne and Maxwell (21 not out off nine) took them over the line with 11 balls to spare. Sadaqat (30 off 16) gave a sparkling start to the run chase smashing Imad Wasim for two sixes and two fours in a 20-run first over. After the openers scored 50 runs in 4.4 overs, United scored when Sadaqat missed a heave down the ground. However, in a display of high-quality batting, the tenacious stand that Saim and Labuschagne had, despite Saim's lack of runs throughout the tournament, ensured that the dismissal did not open the floodgates. A flurry of middle order wickets put Kingsmen under the pump, but Maxwell started the 17th over with a six to bring the scoring rate below six an over and closed it with his trademark six over cow corner to leave 12 runs to be chased from the last three overs. To end the run chase, Labuschagne and Maxwell hit consecutive fours. When Labuschagne chose to bowl, he had anticipated that the dew would play a role in the run chase at the toss, but there were few signs of it. Chris Green was in charge of United in Shadab Khan's absence due to a muscle strain. United started with a flyer as Conway hit Mohammad Ali and Hunain Shah for two and four boundaries in the first and second overs, respectively. Kingsmen were taught how to bowl on this surface thanks to Ali's cunning change of pace, which resulted in the defeat of Sameer Minhas later in the powerplay. During the middle overs, their pacers rolled their fingers and their spinners bowled slowly as United ran out of boundaries. Ali, Maxwell, Ayub, and Hassan Khan were impressive in the middle phase. Mark Chapman (42 off 30) capitalized on freebies provided by Hunain in the 17th over, bringing United's boundary drought to 56 balls thanks to their incredible use of the field. He fell on the first ball of the last over to debutant Asif Mehmood, who had been plundered for 15 runs in his only over until then. The right-arm pacer, however, finished off in style taking four wickets and leaking only three runs in the last six balls.