LAHORE: Azam Khan produced a blistering half-century that lit up the Gaddafi Stadium as Karachi Kings chased down 198 with five wickets and four balls to spare against Rawalpindiz on Thursday night in the HBL Pakistan Super League match here at the Gaddafi Stadium.

Coming in at number four with the Kings needing momentum after early losses, the swashbuckling wicket-keeper-batter unle­ashed an explosive 74 off just 34 balls, studded with six fours and six sixes. His aggressive strokeplay, particularly against the spinners and pace, turned a challenging chase into a comfortable victory, extending Karachi’s unbeaten run in the tournament.

Azam’s innings, laced with powerful pulls, sweeps and lofted drives, culminated in a memorable display of clean hitting before he fell n the 18th over.

Prior to Azam’s arrival, the Kings had made a promising but stuttering start. Openers Mohammad Waseem and David Warner began cautiously against Mohammad Amir, with Waseem striking two early fours.

Waseem then exploded, hammering Naseem Shah for a six and another maximum in the third over, racing to 23 off 11 before chopping on to a cutter.

Salman Ali Agha joined Warner and showed intent with a six off Mohammad Amir Khan, but struggled against the swing and bounce, eventually falling for 29 when he nicked a reverse-lap attempt off Daryl Mitchell to Rawa­lpindiz captain and wicket-keeper Rizwan.

Warner anchored the innings with a measured 50 off 36 balls (six fours and a six), but the required run-rate hovered around 11 as the middle overs progressed. At 146 for three in the 16th over after Warner’s dismissal to Mitchell, the game remained in the balance. It was Azam’s pyrotechnics that shifted the momentum decisively.

Earlier, Rawalpindiz posted a competitive 197 for six after opting to bat first, thanks largely to aggressive middle-order contributions, though their innings lost steam in the death overs.

Hasan Ali starred with the ball for Karachi, claiming three wickets for 24 runs in his four overs. His disciplined spell, mixing short-pitched deliveries with clever variations, disrupted the Pindiz top order and later cleaned up the tail.

The right-arm pacer removed Rizwan early for 21, gloving a pull to Azam behind the stumps in the third over. He returned in the death to castled Sam Billings for a fluent 58 off 35 (eight fours and a six) with a skidding hard-length ball, and then bowled Cole McConchie to leave the visitors reeling at 192 for six.

Khushdil Shah provided excellent support with two wickets for 37, including the key scalps of Yasir Khan and Kamran Ghulam. Mir Hamza, despite going for 49, picked up Mitchell for 65 off 41 balls (five fours, three sixes), while Adam Zampa and Abbas Afridi contained the scoring in patches without taking wickets.

Rawalpindiz had made a flying start, racing to 55 for two in the powerplay. Rizwan and Yasir attacked Moeen Ali’s opening over for 13 runs, but Hasan’s introduction brought the first breakthrough. A brief collapse saw them slip to 55 for three, before Mitchell and Billings forged a 120-run partnership that threatened to take the game away.

Billings, in particular, entertained with cheeky reverse sweeps and powerful hits, reaching his fifty in style. However, Hasan’s 18th over proved pivotal, removing Billings and applying brakes that restricted the final overs to just 23 runs.

The chase began under lights with Waseem and Warner taking on Amir. Waseem’s aggressive approach yielded quick boundaries, but Naseem’s variations accounted for him. War­ner and Agha steadied the ship, yet Mitchell’s military-medium pace proved effective, claiming two wickets including the skipper.

Azam then took centre stage. His fifty came off just 29 balls in the 16th over with a massive six off McConchie, followed by another maximum to keep the scoreboard ticking. Even after his departure, Khushdil remained not out on five, while Abbas sealed the win in dramatic fashion with a towering six off Mitchell on the second ball of the final over.

The win keeps Karachi Kin­gs as the only unbeaten side in the competition, while Rawal­pindiz continue their search for a maiden PSL win.

SCOREBOARD

RAWALPINDIZ:

Mohammad Rizwan c Azam b Hasan 21

Yasir Khan b Khushdil 8

Kamran Ghulam b Khushdil 10

Daryl Mitchell c Waseem b Hamza 65

Sam Billings b Hasan 58

Abdullah Fazal not out 18

Cole McConchie b Hasan 2

Rishad Hossain not out 0

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-8, NB-1, W-5) 15

TOTAL (for six wickets, 20 overs) 197

DID NOT BAT: Naseem Shah, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Amir Khan

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-28 (Rizwan), 2-33 (Yasir), 3-55 (Kamran), 4-175 (Billings), 5-181 (Mitchell), 6-192 (McConchie)

BOWLING: Moeen 1-0-13-0, Hamza 4-0-49-1 (1nb), Hasan 4-0-24-3, Khushdil 4-0-37-2 (2w), Zampa 4-0-28-0 (1w), Abbas 3-0-37-0

KARACHI KINGS:

Mohammad Waseem b Naseem 23

David Warner c Rishad b Mitchell 50

Salman Ali Agha c Rizwan b Mitchell 29

Azam Khan c Rishad b Amir 74

Khushdil Shah not out 5

Moeen Ali lbw b Mitchell 5

Abbas Afridi not out 6

EXTRAS (LB-1, NB-2, W-4) 7

TOTAL (for five wickets, 19.2 overs) 199

DID NOT BAT: Saad Baig, Hasan Ali, Adam Zampa, Mir Hamza

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-27 (Waseem), 2-70 (Salman), 3-146 (Warner), 4-188 (Azam), 5-193 (Ali)

BOWLING: Amir 4-0-38-1, McConchie 1.4-0-20-0, Naseem 2.2-0-26-1 (2nb), Amir Khan 4-0-44-0, Mitchell 3.2-0-32-3 (1w), Rishad 4-0-38-0 (3w)

RESULT: Karachi Kings won by five wickets.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Azam Khan

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2026

MILAN: The head of Italy’s football federation (FIGC) resigned on Thursday, falling on his sword after the men’s national team failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time.

Gabriele Gravina revealed he would step down as the country’s top football off­i­cial following a meeting held at the FIGC’s headquarters in Rome on Thursday.

His announcement came a day after Sport Minister Andrea Abodi called on him to resign.

Four-time World Cup winners Italy fell at the play-offs again on Tuesday, this time after a penalty shoot-out against Bosnia and Herzeg­ovina, and will miss this summer’s finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The shock waves of the latest humiliation for one of the world’s most successful football nations forced Gravina, 72, to go back on his initial plans to wait until a FIGC board meeting next week to announce a decision on his future.

The FIGC said in a statement that a vote for a new president would be held on June 22.

Giovanni Malago, the former long-time head of the Italian Olympic Committee who was president of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics organisation committee, is reportedly one of the names in the hat.

Before then, head coach Gennaro Gattuso is expected to also step down, while general manager Gianluigi Buffon, the former Italy goalkeeper, announced his resignation on Thursday.

Italy’s failure to reach the first ever 48-team World Cup — which will feature the likes of Cape Verde and Curacao — led Abodi to release a statement saying: “It’s clear that Italian football needs to be rebuilt from the ground up and that starts with changes at the top of the FIGC.”

That came a day after Gravina had hit out at politicians “who have only pushed for resignations”, while also admitting Italian football “is in a profound crisis”.

UEFA threat

Gravina was elected FIGC president in October 2018, becoming the permanent replacement for Carlo Tavecchio, who stepped down following Italy’s first World Cup play-off defeat to Sweden the previous year.

The highlight of his reign was Italy’s thrilling triumph at Euro 2020, when an Azzurri team under Roberto Mancini, which went unbeaten for 37 matches, beat England at Wembley to be crowned kings of the continent for the second time.

But two World Cup qualification failures and a dismal defence of the European title left Gravina with little choice but to resign as Italy’s football woes deepen.

And those do not just relate to diminishing performances by the national team and Serie A clubs — none of whom have won the Champions League since 2010.

Italy are due to co-host Euro 2032 with Turkey but on Thursday, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin hit out at the state of Italy’s stadiums, warning the country could be stripped of hosting rights.

“I just hope that the infrastructure (in Italy) will be ready. If that’s not the case, the tournament will not be held in Italy,” Ceferin said in an interview with the Gazzetta Dello Sport.

Italy’s football malaise contrasts sharply with its success in other sports.

Italy claimed a record 30 medals at the recent Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, including 10 golds, and left the 2024 Summer Games in Paris with 40 medals.

The Mediterranean nation also has top performers in a wide variety of other sports, such as tennis star Jannik Sinner, a four-time Grand Slam winner.

Gravina caused anger on Tuesday by referring to other sports as “amateur” and “state sports” compared to football due to the large number of athletes, particularly Olympians, who are nominally employed by different branches of Italy’s armed forces and police.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2026

LAHORE: A whirlwind knock by youngster Sameer Minhas backed by a superb all-round display from captain Shadab Khan steered Islamabad United to their first victory of the HBL Pakistan Super League 11 as they crushed Quetta Gladiators by eight wickets here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Thursday.

Chasing 184, United achieved the target with 10 balls to spare for the loss of only two wickets thanks to Sameer’s unbeaten career-best knock of 82 and 69 not out cracked by Shadab.

United had lost one match in the ongoing season while their second game was washed out. For Gladiators, it was their second loss of the edition.

Shadab, earlier in the day, fared impressively with the leather (3-23) too to earn the player-of-the-match award.

United lost opener Devon Conway (18 off 19 balls), caught by Ahmed Daniyal at short third man off mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed, as United ended powerplay at a solid 58-1.

Andries Gous (two) was cleaned up by Abrar in the seventh over to leave United at 61-2 in the seventh over.

At this stage, opener Sameer and Shadab took charge to make sure they do not lose any more wickets as they built a match-winning partnership of 128 runs while cruising towards the target.

Batting in an aggressive mode, the duo helped their side reach 100 off 11.4 overs. Sameer completed the fifty in just 32 balls while Shadab reached his off just 29.

Sameer faced just 48 balls striking eight fours and three sixes while Shadab plundered five fours and four sixes during his 39-ball blast.

The pair then raced to 150 off 15.4 overs making the target look much easier and completed their 100-run stand off mere 57 balls.

For Gladiators, Abrar was took two wickets for 29 runs while the rest struggled.

Earlier after electing to bat first, Gladiators posted 183-5 off the stipulated 20 overs thanks to Hasan Nawaz’s belligerent 66 not out. However, the total did not prove enough in the end.

After skipper Saud Shakeel (42 off 26) and Shamyl Hussain (21 off 15) got their team to a flying start of 50 in just 4.2 overs, the team dipped in the middle losing five wickets for the addition of 43 runs in around seven overs.

Gladiators had raced to 60-1 in powerplay after having lost Sha­myl who was dismissed by pacer Salman Irshad in the fifth over.

Saud’s crucial scalp was claimed by Shadab in the ninth over as the batter failed to play a slog sweep and was caught by Haider Ali at backward point. Saud hit three fours and as many sixes. The scoreboard read 71-2. The skipper was followed by Khawaja Nafay (18 off 14) dismissed by slow left-arm orthodox spinner Imad Wasim in the 11th over which made it 88-3 before Ben McDermott (three) and Bevon Jacobs (nought) were sent back to the hut on successive balls by Shadab in the next over.

Gladiators were now 93-5 and a collapse was on the cards but it was not to be as Hasan and Tom Curran (29 not out off 22 balls) got together to stitch a 90-run unbeaten stand. After posting 100 in 13.1 overs they changed gears to touch 150 in 18 overs. Hasan faced 36 balls and struck six fours and three sixes while Curran hit a couple of fours and a maximum.

Besides Shadab’s three-wicket burst, Imad and Salman chipped in with a wicket each.

SCOREBOARD

QUETTA GLADIATORS:

Saud Shakeel c Haider b Shadab 42

Shamyl Hussain c Haider b Salman 21

Khawaja Nafay c Haider b Imad 18

Hasan Nawaz not out 66

Ben McDermott b Shadab 3

Bevon Jacobs c&b Shadab 0

Tom Curran not out 29

EXTRAS (W-4) 4

TOTAL (for five wickets, 20 overs) 183

DID NOT BAT: Ahmed Daniyal, Alzarri Joseph, Abrar Ahmed, Usman Tariq

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-50 (Shamyl), 2-71 (Saud), 3-88 (Nafay), 4-93 (McDermott), 5-93 (Jacobs)

BOWLING: Green 2-0-19-0 (1w), Mirza 4-0-39-0 (1w), Faheem 2-0-23-0 (1w), Salman 4-0-42-1 (1w), Imad 4-0-37-1, Shadab 4-0-23-3

ISLAMABAD UNITED:

Devon Conway c Ahmed b Abrar 18

Sameer Minhas not out 82

Andries Gous b Abrar 2

Shadab Khan not out 69

EXTRAS (LB-7, W-11) 18

TOTAL (for two wickets, 18.2 overs) 189

DID NOT BAT: Mark Chapman, Haider Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Imad Wasim, Salman Mirza, Salman Irshad, Chris Green

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-44 (Conway), 2-61 (Gous)

BOWLING: Joseph 3-0-29-0 (2w), Curran 3-0-39-0 (1w), Abrar 4-0-29-2, Ahmed 3.2-0-42-0 (1w), Saud 1-0-8-0, Usman 4-0-35-0 (2w)

RESULT: Islamabad United won by eight wickets.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Shadab Khan

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2026