Kings look to Babar for PSL glory

Karachi Kings was the most expensive franchise when the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) first auctioned teams in 2015 to kick start the Pakistan Super League (PSL).

At the start of the tournament, in 2016, the franchise probably had the biggest fan base in the country as it was being named after the biggest city of Pakistan.

However, so far, six seasons of the glittering T20 league have been played, but the performance of Karachi Kings has been underwhelming, to say the least.

The Men-in-Blue have been inconsistent throughout the years and their picks in the drafts have also remained quite questionable.

This year too, the PSL 2020 champions were seen eager to pick as many all-rounders for their squad as possible in the drafts that took place on December 12, 2021.

They have at least eight of them in the 21-member squad, including experienced Imad Wasim, Aamer Yamin, Chris Jordan, Mohammad Nabi, Lewis Gregory, Umaid Asif and youngsters Mohammad Taha and Qasim Akram.

On the other hand, they have the best T20 batter of the world Babar Azam, an in-form Joe Clarke, explosive opening batter Sharjeel Khan, talented young wicketkeeper-batter Rohail Nazir, promising Englishman Ian Cockbain, dynamic Sahibzada Farhan and skilful Faisal Akram.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Ilyas, Mohammad Imran, Romario Shepherd and Jordan Thompson are in the squad to strengthen the bowling department.

The seventh edition of the PSL is just around the corner where the Kings will look to replicate their 2020 performance and win the glittering league for the second time.

Before analysing whether this squad be able to lift the trophy once again, let’s have a look at their past performances.

Past performances

Karachi Kings had a few horrendous outings at the start of the league, where they struggled with captains, team combinations and other things.

In the first edition of the event, the Kings, under the captaincy of Shoaib Malik and for one game Ravi Bopara, managed to win just two matches out of nine.

They somehow survived to reach the playoffs but were knocked out in the first game of the advanced stage.

In the second instalment of the tournament, they put up a much-improved show for their fans. The addition of Kumar Sangakkara as a batter and the captain and induction of the young Babar Azam helped the side gain much-needed stability.

They managed to win five out of 10 games to capture the third position among the five competing teams.

The 2018 edition of the league saw the veteran all-rounder Shahid Afridi join the team. It was expected that the experienced campaigner might wear the captaincy band, however, the franchise made a surprising yet sensible decision of handing over the reins to the left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder Imad Wasim.

Under Imad’s captaincy, the Kings registered six wins and they lost five in the 12 encounters, while one ended without result. They qualified for the playoffs, but could not advance any further, ending at the third spot out of the six teams.

The left-arm spinner remained captain for the next season as well. However, the team’s performance was quite disappointing during the episode, losing six games and winning five of the 11 they played.

The PSL 2020 edition stood out for the Salman Iqbal-owned franchise as they stood tall as the champions.

Karachi Kings emerged as winners on seven occasions out of 12 matches. They defeated arch-rivals Lahore Qalandars in the all-important final to lift the beautiful PSL trophy.

However, the defending champions could not carry forward their winning momentum and managed to secure only the fourth spot on the leaderboard in the 2021 edition. They lost six of the 11 matches in the season.

This year, the Kings will enter the competition with a new team combination and a new mindset as they will be playing under their new head coach Peter Moores.

Strengths

Brilliant Babar

The Kings seem to have a solid batting line, led by the newly-appointed captain Babar. The right-handed batter can easily make it into any T20 team of the world.

The 27-year-old is the highest run-scorer in the history of the action-packed T20 league with 2,070 runs in 58 matches at a strike rate of 121.55. The batting maestro has scored as many as 21 half-centuries in the tournament, which is also the most by any batter.

Charismatic Clarke

Moreover, England’s Joe Clarke’s flamboyance will perfectly complement Babar’s calmness. The 25-year-old, in the ongoing edition of Big Bash League, has scored five half-centuries, of which four came back-to-back. If he can adjust to Pakistan’s playing conditions and replicate his BBL run, the Men-in-Blue will surely be at an advantage.

Impressive Imad

You just cannot ignore the role that the former captain Imad Wasim can play for the side. He is extremely effective in the powerplay overs, especially in Karachi and Lahore’s playing conditions. He can get his team early wickets and can halt the flow of runs in key overs.

He maintains an incredible economy rate of 6.58 in 242 T20 games and has also hunted 210 players in the format.

He is also more than capable with the bat in hand. He has 2,153 runs under his belt in 20-over fixtures at a strike rate of 126.34. Therefore, he can be a very impactful player for the Kings in the upcoming season of the league.

Furthermore, they have players like Chris Jordan, Mohammad Nabi, Umaid Asif and Aamer Yamin who can help the team with both the bat and the ball. They are experienced enough to perform at crucial times and they all have that never-give-up attitude.

Weaknesses

New captain

First of all, the move of changing captain ahead of the PSL 2022 looks a little surprising. Imad has been the most successful Karachi Kings’ captain by far. The 33-year-old captained Kings in 41 games, winning 20 and losing 17, maintaining a 53 per cent of success rate. Plus, he was the one who led the team to glory just a couple of seasons ago.

There is no denial that Babar has led the national team pretty well, especially in the ICC T20 World Cup, but putting the added captaincy pressure on the batter is quite uncalled for.

The move can surely backfire for the franchise as the team was well-settled under Imad and doing well.

Players past their prime

Apart from that, players who Karachi Kings boast as their strength can be their weakness. Having faded stars like left-arm pacer Mohammad Amir and batter Sharjeel Khan in the ranks on key positions can hurt the 2020 champions.

In the recently concluded Lanka Premier League, the left-arm pacer only managed to take six wickets in as many games at an economy rate of 7.79, which is just not impressive by his standards.

Similarly, the 32-year-old batter seems like the shadow of himself. Although he was impressive in 2021 with 755 runs in 28 games with the help of two centuries, he has been inconsistent and his presence in the field becomes a liability for the teams due to his poor fitness.

Lack of specialist players

There is a dearth of specialist players in the Karachi Kings’ squad and they have been heavily relying on bits and pieces individuals. It can severely affect them, especially in terms of batting, if they lose their captain early in the inning. There are very few players in the lineup who can stabilise the inning.

Players to watch out

Joe Clarke

England’s Joe Clarke will represent Karachi Kings in this season of the PSL and it is quite an interesting prospect. English players are usually not the best of performers in Asian conditions, but young Clarke looks promising.

So far, the 25-year-old has played 105 T20 games and has scored 2,737 runs at a healthy average of 28.51 at an impressive strike rate of 154.54. He has also scored three tons in the shortest format of the game and has scored 17 half-centuries.

Aamer Yamin

Arguably, Aamer Yamin is the most underrated and underutilised cricketer in Pakistan at the moment. This man can bowl with the new ball, he can bowl variations and he can bowl yorkers at the death overs. He is an intelligent and accurate exponent of the ball, especially in 20-overs format.

He has played 98 T20 games, where he dismissed 76 batters with an economy rate of 8.26.

Moreover, he is more than handy with the bat lower down the order. He can hit some lusty blows at the back end of the inning. He has scored 939 runs in his T20 career at an amazing strike rate of 140.56. Yamin is a utility player in all aspects.

Predictions

Karachi Kings have not been consistent throughout the PSL history. In fact, they have put forward more disappointing performances as compared to impressive ones.

They had a good outing in 2020, where they were crowned champions; however, their run to the final in that particular season was also not anywhere near perfect. They had lost five out of 12 games.

Having said that, every new tournament is a new beginning and past record rarely matters.

Seeing their squad on the paper, it feels like the Kings will not be able to sit on the throne. They have numerous outdated players, too many all-rounders and a lack of specialist batters who can play according to the situation.

It feels like Karachi Kings can at most make it to the playoffs. The unit does not seem worth being called champions.

Fixtures

Karachi Kings will kick off their campaign against the reigning champions Multan Sultans on January 27 at the National Stadium, Karachi.

Meanwhile, they will face the arch-rivals Lahore Qalandars on January 29 at the same venue.

Squad

Babar Azam (C), Chris Jordan, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Lewis Gregory, Mohammad Nabi, Joe Clarke, Aamir Yamin, Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Ilyas, Mohammad Imran, Rohail Nazir, Tom Abell, Umaid Asif, Faisal Akram, Qasim Akram, Romario Shepherd, Talha Ahsan, Sahibzada Farhan and Jordan Thompson, Mohammad Taha Khan.

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