Tayyab Tahir made an impressive debut in the Pakistan Super League with a half century that lifted Karachi Kings to a 66-run victory over table-toppers Multan Sultans on Sunday. (More Cricket News)
Tayyab's brilliant 65 off 46 balls propelled Karachi to 167-3 as he shared a 109-run stand with Matthew Wade, who made a nearly run-a-ball 46.
Multan, playing their first away game after winning four out of five at home, were bowled out for 101 in 16.3 overs with Shoaib Malik (3-16) and left-arm South African spinner Tabraiz Shamsi (3-18) doing most of the damage.
James Vince provided Karachi with a whirlwind start by smashing two sixes and three fours in his blistering knock of 27 off 12 balls before he skied a catch to David Miller at mid-on after Multan captain Mohammad Rizwan won the toss and elected to field.
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Tayyab and Wade then raised a century stand before both perished in fast bowler Ihsanullah's return spell in the late overs.
Ihsanullah, the leading wicket-taker in the tournament, raised his tally to 14 in six games when he had Tayyab trapped leg before wicket off a delivery that slanted into the right-hander before uprooting Wade's offstump with a pacey ball that was clocked at 151.4 kph.
Rizwan (29) and Shan Masood (25) provided Multan with a steady start of 41 off 30 balls before Karachi went for a successful television referral against Masood after he edged fast bowler Akif Javed and the umpire ruled in the batter's favor.
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Malik then had in-form Rilee Rossouw (7) clean bowled before holding onto a catch at mid on as Miller (7) tried a big hit against Shamsi.
Tayyab then grabbed a stunning flying catch at point to dismiss Rizwan, who tried to play Malik on the leg side but got a leading edge in the 11th over. Multan then lost their last seven wickets for 31 runs against some disciplined Karachi bowling.
Karachi's win lifted the team to third in the points table with two wins from six games. Lahore Qalandars and Peshawar Zalmi, who are both behind Karachi on net run-rate, will meet in Sunday's later game.
