LAHORE: Army helicopters hovering over, and Super Soppers being run over the Gaddafi Stadium pitch to fend off the moisture caused by heavy rainfall since last night, were not enough to ensure the second Pakistan Super League eliminator between Karachi Kings and Peshawar Zalmi starting on time.

The crucial fixture was delayed by an hour and a quarter and was trimmed down to a 16-over per innings match after Mohammad Amir — who replaced Eoin Morgan (did not visit Pakistan) as Karachi’s captain — won the toss and opted to bowl first followed by a field inspection by the umpires.

The helicopters had a 35-minute stint, hovering over the pitch and other area to dry up. Later two suckers continued to dry up the deep areas of the ground till 8.00pm. It was the first occasion that a chopper was used to dry up the ground for a domestic match.

Earlier, it was used in Gujranwala to ensure World Cup-1996 match between Pakistan and UAE.

Karachi Kings played the match without their key all-rounder Shahid Afridi, who could not recover from his knee injury, he sustained in a previous match of the PSL.

Amir’s side, who finished second after finalists Islamabad United in the league stage, would have gone through to the final directly had the match been washed out.

Helicopters were flown low over the ground for 35 minutes as the ground staff tried to dry it with the help of drying machines. Such measures were taken last in Gujranwala in 1996 ahead of a World Cup match between Pakistan and UAE.

Despite the uncertainty on whether the match will be played or not, fans started arriving at the venue in big numbers by as early as 3:00 pm in the afternoon and by 6:00 pm, more than half of the seats were occupied.

Karachi were also without star all-rounders Shahid Afridi and Imad Wasim but Amir said he was positive.Finally, the match officials announced the match will start at 8.15pm after inspecting the field at 7.30pm.

The play for Zalmi was important, as only a win could give them a ticket to the final against Islamabad United in Karachi on March 25.

But Karachi Kings, on their better points in the league matches, could qualify for the final, without a ball was bowled. Their captain Imad Waseem is already on injury list, thus pacer Muhammad Aamir was asked to lead the team.

Aamir after winning the toss, elected to bowl first and said that though absence of both Shahid Afrdi and Imad Wasim was a big loss, his team had a good combination and would try its best to win the match.

He said in T20 format, any player could change the fortunate at any moment.

Zalmi’s skipper Darren Sammy said due to heavy rains, there was moisture which could create problem for the batsmen.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2018