Karachi Kings, the strong franchise of Pakistan Super League (PSL) 7, failed to meet the expectations of its fans despite being captained by the world’s top batsman Babar Azam as it faced back-to-back three defeats in the mega cricketing event.
The chances of Karachi Kings have dimmed to advance to next level after the hapless performance in the ongoing PSL 7 following the consecutive defeats since the beginning of the tournament against Multan Sultans and they lost matches against Quetta Gladiators and Lahore Qalandars.
In an analytical view, it is obvious that the Kings are facing trouble to make a good combination in batting and bowling sides, especially in the absence of Mohammad Amir and Chris Jordan.
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Babar Azam-led Karachi Kings were outclassed by Multan Sultan with a seven-wicket win and then they faced an eight-wicket defeat by Quetta Gladiators and six-wicket by Lahore Qalandars.
Cricketing analysts have called it a disappointing moment in the PSL 7 which forced them to think about the flaws behind the consecutive defeats of the strong franchise this year.
Players drafting
In the draft picks, the Kings have had Chris Jordan, Lewis Gregory, Umaid Asif, Tom Abell, Rohail Nazir, Mohammad Imran (wildcard: from Emerging to Silver), Qasim Akram (Right to Match), Faisal Akram, Talha Ahsan and Romario Shepherd.
The retained players included Babar Azam, Imad Wasim (both Platinum), Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Nabi (both Diamond), Joe Clarke (Gold; Brand Ambassador), Aamer Yamin, Sharjeel Khan (both Gold) and Mohammad Ilyas (Silver)
According to the potential first XI, the players included Babar Azam, Sharjeel Khan, Joe Clarke, Imad Wasim, Lewis Gregory, Mohammad Nabi, Aamir Yamin, Chris Jordan, Umaid Asif, Mohammad Amir and Talha Ahsan.
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Later, some changes were made as injured Tom Abell was replaced by Ian Cockbain, Romario Shepherd was replaced by Tom Lammonby due to the first’s unavailability, whereas, Chris Jordan remained absent in the matches due to being a part of the English squad touring West Indies. Sahibzada Farhan and Jordan Thompson came in for the supplementary round and Mohammad Taha Khan as a partial replacement.
However, the wrong drafting of the players, neglecting the creation of a proper combination forced Kings to suffer defeats.
Amir’s absence
Karachi Kings have felt the absence of Mohammad Amir who is one of the top wicket-takers of PSL due to an injury. It was an unfortunate happening for the Kings to witness the star bowler’s unavailability after he suffered injury hours before the opening match of PSL.
Babar Azam: captain or batsman
There is no doubt over the brilliant captaincy of Babar Azam which led Pakistan first win against India in a world cup event but an individual’s performance is obviously not enough for bagging the victories, especially without proper combinations in batting and bowling fields.
However, the lack of batting combination and low scoring in the powerplay by Babar Azam that gave a direct impact on the middle-order batters, leaving them under pressure and resulting in their early collapse.
Azam is probably facing a lot of pressure on him after knowing the state of Kings’ weak middle-order batters which pushed him to stay on the crease for a longer inning besides stopping him to play fearlessly during the powerplays.