LAHORE: Who in this world would have thought a couple of weeks ago that debutants Hyderabad Kingsmen, having lost four of their first five initial-stage matches of the HBL Pakistan Super League, will make it to the decider as Islamabad United blinked in the final over of the action-packed encounter.

The ultra-passionate fans present here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Friday night found themselves extremely lucky. Why not? They witnessed an absolute nail-biting Eliminator-2. Marnus Labuschagne’s energised sprint to the field immediately after the two-run triumph explicitly showed that Peshawar Zalmi will face a rejuvenated Kingsmen brigade in the all-important final on Sunday.

Fielding is not generally considered a forte in this part of the world. However, the way Kingsmen’s Hassan Khan in an extraordinary leap in the air at mid-wicket boundary prevented a six off Faheem Ashraf’s bat in the 17th over was as stunning as anything.

United went through ebb and flow in their chase of a tough 187 and fell short in the very end by a whisker.

Needing 28 off the final two overs, Faheem Ashraf (19 off 11 balls) and Chris Green (21 not out off nine) collected a whopping 22 runs off pacer Mohammad Ali’s 19th over as United came mighty close to entering the decider.

Fast bowler Hunain Shah, however, had kept his very best for this moment. Steaming in to bowl with only six runs to defend, the right-armer did not give Green and Faheem any room to go for a big hit and gave away only one run off the first three balls.

On the fourth, Faheem was caught by Hassan Khan at long-off while the fifth ball went only for a single as Hunain maintained an intelligent line and length under pressure. Requiring four of the very last, Green could only manage a single as the pacer and his team-mates rejoiced.

In a forgettable start to their chase, United lost Sameer Minhas who misjudged a pull off fast bowler Akif Javed in the second over only to be caught by Labuschagne at mid-off.

Mohsin Riaz (five) skied a Mohammad Ali ball and caught by Irfan Khan Niazi near mid-wicket in the third over as United dipped to 15-2 in the third over.

Opener Devon Conway and captain Shadab Khan, who once again came in to bat at number four, slowly steered United to 46-2 in powerplay as the required run-rate touched 10.

United’s progress remained sluggish compelling Conway (30 off 25) to play some unorthodox strokes but it did not work as a wily Saim Ayub bowled a quicker one to trap the batter, who attempted a reverse sweep, in front in the eighth over. The New Zealander opted for a review but to no avail, leaving United languishing at 57-3.

Shadab laboured to 22 off 24 before he was grabbed by Irfan Khan off spinner Hassan as Uni­ted slumped to 68-4 in the 11th.

Haider Ali (31 off 16) came in to join Chapman and the pair injected life into the innings with some breathtaking strokes as United reached the 100-run mark in the 14th over.

After a lively 64-run stand, Maxwell, known for his outstanding skills, took an easy catch at mid-off in the 16th over to enable Ali to celebrate. Haider’s knock contained two fours and as many sixes. In the same eventful over, Irfan could not take a difficult catch at long-on to give Chapman a reprieve.

However, Kingsmen took a sigh of relief in the 18th over when New Zealand’s left-hander (43 off 26, five fours, two sixes) was finally caught by Kusal Perera at point off Hunain.

Man-of-the-match Hunain picked up two wickets for 37, fellow pacer Ali 2-44 while Akif Javed, Hassan and Saim claimed a wicket apiece.

Earlier, Kingsmen posted 186-5 after being sent in to bat, thanks to a belligerent half-century by Usman Khan who was backed by useful cameos from Perera, Labuschagne and Saim.

Following a disastrous start that saw Maaz Sadaqat miscuing a pull shot off pacer Richard Gleeson in the first over to get caught by Salman Mirza at square leg, Kingsmen recovered gradually as Saim, badly looking for some runs under his belt to regain form, joined Labuschagne to steer their team out of trouble.

Both the batters played some fine strokes as Kinsgmen reached 54-1 in powerplay.

As the run-rate dipped following powerplay and pressure mounted on the batters, Saim was dismissed by off-spinner Green in the 10th over as the southpaw was caught in the deep by Chapman to end the 70-run stand. Saim’s 38 came off 27 balls and contained seven fours.

Two overs later, Imad Wasim rose to the occasion and struck twice that restrained Kingsmen.

First, Imad made Labuschagne double-minded and play a chip short only to be caught by Green rushing from long-on. The skipper crafted a 32-ball 39 laced with four fours and a six. The slow left-arm orthodox spinner successfully mesmerised dangerous Maxwell (three) who attempted a wild shot through covers but only got a top edge and grabbed by Salman Mirza at short third man. Kingsmen were now 85-4 and seemed they will crumble.

However, Usman and incoming Perera had other ideas.

The pair changed gears to steer their team past 100 in 13.1 overs. In-form Usman took full benefit from the life he got in the 13th over when a running Chapman grassed a difficult chance off Shadab.

The right-hander, who cracked a match-winning 64 against Multan Sultans in the playoff a couple of days ago, maintained his rich form playing typical attacking strokes as he cruised to a 24-ball half-century as Kingsmen reached 150 in the 18th over.

While Usman remained unbeaten on 61 off just 30 with the help of 10 fours, Perera also made his presence felt with a superb 21-ball 37 dotted with four fours and a brace of sixes. After adding an invaluable 101 runs with Usman, the Sri Lankan finally departed on the very last ball of the innings bowled by Faheem Ashraf.

Surprisingly, Imad bowled only two overs to record figures of 2-16.

Other Spinners Shadab (0-23, three overs) and Green (1-19, three overs) also did not complete their quota while pacers Salman (0-42), Faheem (1-43) and Gleeson (1-40) bowled four overs each but proved expensive.

SCOREBOARD

HYDERABAD KINGSMEN:

Maaz Sadaqat c Salman b Gleeson 0

Marnus Labuschagne c Green b Imad 39

Saim Ayub c Chapman b Green 38

Glenn Maxwell c Salman b Imad 3

Usman Khan not out 61

Kusal Perera c Mohsin b Faheem 37

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-2, W-5) 8

TOTAL (for five wickets, 20 overs) 186

DID NOT BAT: Irfan Khan, Hassan Khan, Hunain Shah, Mohammad Ali, Akif Javed

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-1 (Maaz), 2-71 (Saim), 3-84 (Labuschagne), 4-85 (Maxwell), 5-186 (Perera)

BOWLING: Gleeson 4-0-40-1 (3w), Salman 4-0-42-0, Green 3-0-19-1, Faheem 4-0-43-1, Shadab 3-0-23-0 (2w), Imad 2-0-16-2

ISLAMABAD UNITED:

Devon Conway lbw b Saim 30

Sameer Minhas c Labuschagne b Akif 6

Mohsin Riaz c Irfan b Ali 5

Shadab Khan c Irfan b Hassan 22

Mark Chapman c Perera b Hunain 43

Haider Ali c Maxwell b Ali 31

Faheem Ashraf c Hassan b Hunain 19

Chris Green not out 21

Imad Wasim not out 1

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-1, W-4) 6

TOTAL (for seven wickets, 20 overs) 184

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-8 (Sameer), 2-15 (Mohsin), 3-57 (Conway), 4-68 (Shadab), 5-132 (Haider), 7-182 (Faheem)

DID NOT BAT: Salman Mirza, Richard Gleeson

BOWLING: Ali 4-0-44-2, Hunain 4-0-37-2, Akif 4-0-39-1, Hassan 4-0-31-1 (2w), Saim 4-0-31-1 (2w)

RESULT: Hyderanad Kingsmen won by two runs.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Hunain Shah

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2026