PSL 2022: Relief for Karachi Kings as Mohammad Amir recovers from injury

KARACHI: In a major development for Karachi Kings, who suffered back-to-back defeats during the ongoing seventh edition of the Pakistan Super League, their star pacer Mohammad Amir has recovered from the hamstring injury.

As per the details, Kings’ fast bowler, Mohammad Amir was seen bowling with full rhythm during the practice session at the High-Performance Center Karachi today and is likely to join his team in the match against Peshawar Zalmi scheduled to be played on February 4.

It is pertinent to mention here that Amir missed out on all the three initial fixtures of his team, in which Kings had suffered defeat. 

The analysts have cited the absence of an experienced pacer in the squad as one of the reasons for the current fate of the home team.

Meanwhile, Peshawar Zalmi’s Hazratullah Zazai also attended the practice session today after making recovery from COVID-19. He had tested positive for the coronavirus upon arrival in Pakistan from Afghanistan.

Zalmi’s spokesperson said that Saqib Mahmood, an English cricketer, will arrive in Pakistan tomorrow and will join the team after completing his three-day quarantine period. 

Reasons why the Karachi Kings are failing in PSL 2022

During the ongoing  PSL, Karachi Kings, have put up a lacklustre performance, which wasn't expected of them, especially after a change of leadership.

Babar Azam, who led Pakistan to a historic win against India in last year's T20 World Cup, is now the skipper of the Kings after the management decided to take away charge from Imad Wasim.

However, the Kings have been failing miserably to defend their totals in the last matches played at the National Stadium in Karachi.

They have lost by seven wickets to Multan Sultan, six wickets to Lahore Qalandars, and eight wickets to Quetta Gladiators — and it seems like this streak might continue.

Here are four reasons why we think they are failing:

Excessive reliance on top-order

The Kings seem to rely substantially on the top order — Sharjeel Khan and Babar Azam — to get runs on the board as none of the batters after them seem to perform up to the mark.

Babar Azam's attempt to maintain his 'brand'

The skipper is trying to sustain his "brand identity" of being the man to get runs on the board for the team when it needs them the most, just like he does in international cricket.

Because of that, the 27-year-old is not scoring in the powerplay — when he should be in a hard-hitting mode — and aims at playing a longer inning as compared to other batters.

Middle-order failure

Due to too much reliance on Babar and Sharjeel and their failure to get enough scores to decrease the pressure on the batters that follow, the Karachi Kings' middle order is collapsing constantly.

None of the players in the middle order have been able to add 30 runs to the total score individually, thus, leaving the team handicapped after the dismissal of Babar and Sharjeel.