LAHORE: Hasan Ali’s fine pace bowling, backed by an all-round display from Moeen Ali and captain David Warner’s belligerent knock steered Karachi Kings to a hard-earned 14-run victory over Quetta Gladiators in their HBL Pakistan Super League match here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Friday night.

Chasing a tough 182, Gladiators got off to a scintillating start but faltered in the middle and eventually managed to post 167-7 off the allotted overs.

Hasan (4-27) and his spin bowling partners Ali (1-26), Adam Zampa (1-26) and Salman Ali Agha (1-10 off two overs) successfully prevented their opponents from reaching the target.

Openers Shamyl Hussain and captain Saud Shakeel gave Gladiators a rollicking start of 79 in seven overs as they posted 75 in powerplay.

Shamyl smashed 52 off just 24 balls and hit five fours and four sixes while a relatively sedate Saud made 33 off 25 with the help of six fours.

After the solid start, Gladiators lost three wickets for the addition of 16 runs in the next three overs. Shamyl was first to go in the eighth over as he was caught by Ali at long on off Salman on his very first ball of the match. Khawaja Nafay (three) was the next as he was deceived by Zampa’s quicker one that shattered the stumps in the ninth over. Kings got a huge wicket when Saud was caught at deep cover by Khushdil off Ali as the batter tried to play a lofted inside-out stroke. Now Gladiators were 95-3 at halfway stage.

Rilee Rossouw (25 off 21) and Hasan Nawaz (19 off 24) tried to rescue their side by adding 29 runs as the Gladiators reached 100 in the 11th over.

After touching 124-3 in 15 overs and needing another 58 off the last five overs, it looked as if Gladiators will make it but it was not to be as Hasan rose to the occasion to derail their plans.

The right-armer first cleaned up Rossouw in the 16th over and then claimed a dream triple strike in the penultimate over of the match to smother Gladiators’ hopes.

He first dismissed Hasan Nawaz who was caught by Mohammad Waseem at long-off, then bowled Tom Curran on the very next ball to be on a hat-trick before ending the over with the scalp of tailender Ahmed Daniyal who was caught by Ali at backward point.

Needing 30 off the final over was always going to be tough as Gladiators managed to get only half of it despite the efforts of Ben McDermott (25 not out off 13).

Earlier after being sent in to bat first, captain David Warner’s hard hitting and a late onslaught by Ali helped Kings post 181-7 off the stipulated overs.

After losing opener Waseem who was caught by Rossouw at mid-on at the edge of the circle off pacer Alzarri Joseph in the opening over for a duck, Warner (35 off 22 balls) and Salman (22 off 10) launched a counter attack to take maximum advantage from powerplay.

The pair added 41 quick runs before Salman, who hit four fours and a six during his cameo, was trapped by fast bowler Ahmed in the fourth over as Kings slumped to 44-2.

Saad Baig (30 off 23) joined Warner as the pair, after reaching 50 in 4.3 overs, steered Kings to 60-2 at the end of powerplay.

After a 43-run stand, Saad was sent back by Ahmed — caught at midwicket boundary by Nafay in the ninth over. Kings were now 87-3. Saad struck six fours.

On the very next ball after Kings touched the 100-mark in 10.2 overs, mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed gave Gladiators a huge boost when left-handed Warner trying to play a paddle sweep got a leading edge to give the bowler an easy catch.

Kings got slower at this stage and got another blow when Azam Khan (14 off 14) was cleaned up by off-spinner Usman Tariq in the 14th over. They were now 109-5.

Southpaw Ali was joined by Khushdil shah (12 off eight) as they duo added 31 before the latter became Ahmed’s third victim in the 17th over. Kings reached 150 in 17.5 overs.

Man-of-the-match Ali in the meantime, playing aggressively unleashed a flurry of strokes to boost Kings towards a fighting total. Though in the process Kings lost Shahid Aziz (eight) in the 19th over to leave them at 160-7, Ali’s fireworks helped his team add 56 runs off the final five overs.

The all-rounder’s 48 not out came off just 29 balls and contained four fours and three sixes.

Ahmed took three wickets for 36, Joseph finished with 2-32 while spinners Abrar (1-35) and Usman (1-29) were the other wicket-takers.

SCOREBOARD

KARACHI KINGS:

David Warner c&b Abrar35

Mohammad Waseem c Rossouw b Joseph0

Salman Ali Agha lbw b Ahmed22

Saad Baig c Nafay b Ahmed30

Azam Khan b Usman14

Moeen Ali not out48

Khushdil Shah c Nafay b Ahmed12

Shahid Aziz c Rossouw b Joseph8

Hasan Ali not out7

EXTRAS (LB-4, W-1)5

TOTAL (for seven wickets, 20 overs)181

DID NOT BAT: Adam Zampa, Mir Hamza

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-3 (Waseem), 2-44 (Salman), 3-87 (Saad), 4-100 (Warner), 5-109 (Azam), 6-140 (Khushdil), 7-160 (Shahid)

BOWLING: Joseph 4-0-32-2, Curran 3-0-35-0, Ahmed 4-0-36-3, Abrar 4-0-35-1, Hasan 1-0-10-0, Usman 4-0-29-1 (1w)

QUETTA GLADIATORS:

Saud Shakeel c Khushdil b Ali33

Shamyl Hussain c Ali b Salman52

Khawaja Nafay b Zampa3

Rilee Rossouw b Hasan25

Hasan Nawaz c Waseem b Hasan19

Ben McDermott not out25

Tom Curran b Hasan0

Ahmed Daniyal c Ali b Hasan4

Alzarri Joseph not out3

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-2)3

TOTAL (for seven wickets, 20 overs) 167

DID NOT BAT: Abrar Ahmed, Usman Tariq

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-79 (Shamyl), 2-85 (Nafay), 3-95 (Saud), 4-124 (Rossouw), 5-148 (Hasan), 6-148 (Curran), 7-152 (Ahmed)

BOWLING: Ali 4-0-26-1, Hamza 4-0-57-0 (1w), Hasan 4-0-27-4, Shahid 1-0-13-0, Zampa 4-0-26-1, Salman 2-0-10-1 (1w), Khushdil 1-0-7-0

RESULT: Karachi Kings won by 14 runs.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Moeen Ali

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2026

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PARIS: Italy will face Bosnia and Herzegovina for a place at the 2026 World Cup after beating Northern Ireland 2-0 on Thursday, as Wales and the Republic of Ireland suffered agonising penalty shootout defeats in their qualifying play-off semi-finals.

Sandro Tonali and Moise Kean struck second-half goals in Bergamo to keep four-time World Cup winners Italy on track to end a 12-year absence from the tournament.

Italy missed the last two editions in Russia and Qatar but Tonali’s powerful drive and an excellent finish from Kean nudged Gennaro Gattuso’s team a step closer to a return to international football’s biggest stage.

“We had to work hard because it was not easy tonight,” said Gattuso. “We knew this game would be tough, all we can do now is try to recharge the batteries.”

Italy will take on Bosnia in Zenica next Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a late header from 40-year-old Edin Dzeko cancelled out Dan James’ superb opener for Wales and forced extra time in Cardiff, where Bosnia scraped through 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

“We’re lost for words. We prepared as well as we could have and I thought we played well,” Wales captain Ethan Ampadu told the BBC. “We can hold our heads up high because we fought for everything, sometimes in life things don’t go your way.”

In Sweden, Arsenal’s striker Viktor Gyokeres scored a hat-trick as the hosts down Ukraine 3-1.

Gyokeres netted his first goals of the qualifying campaign to lead Sweden to the brink of the finals, despite a dismal group stage in which they picked up just two points in six matches.

Sweden got another chance as a result of their UEFA Nations League performances and Gyokeres turned in from close range early on against Ukraine, unable to play at home because of the war with Russia and instead having to move the tie to neutral ground in Valencia, Spain.

Gyokeres tucked away his second six minutes after the break and converted a penalty to complete his treble and seal victory for Graham Potter’s team, with Matvii Ponomarenko grabbing a late consolation for Ukraine.

Sweden will play Poland in Stockholm for one of four remaining European tickets to the World Cup.

Lewandowski stars

Robert Lewandowski helped Poland come from behind to scrape past Albania 2-1 after Arber Hoxha gave the visitors the lead in Warsaw.

Lewandowski headed in from a corner to bring Poland level with his 89th goal for his country before Piotr Zielinski grabbed the winner.

In Prague, Czech Republic goalkeeper Matej Kovar saved two penalties in a shootout to steer his team past Ireland.

Ireland looked well placed for a first trip to the World Cup since 2002 as Troy Parrott’s penalty and own goal by Kovar put them 2-0 ahead.

Patrik Schick pulled a goal back from the spot and Ladislav Krejci powered in a header on 86 minutes to level at 2-2 and send the semi-final to extra time.

Finn Azaz and Alan Browne both missed in the shootout as the Czechs lined up a showdown at home to a rampant Denmark.

“Just pain. We all feel pain. When you go this far it’s a flip of a coin. Just pain we feel being that close,” Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson told RTE.

In the Danish capital, Gustav Isaksen’s brace helped the hosts keep their World Cup bid alive.

The Danes eased to a 4-0 victory over North Macedonia in Copenhagen with all the goals coming in the second half. Mikkel Damsgaard broke the deadlock and Isaksen scored two in two minutes before Christian Norgaard completed the rout.

Elsewhere, Kosovo are on the brink of a first appearance at any major tournament following a wild 4-3 win away to Slovakia.

Slovakia twice led in Bratislava through goals from Martin Valjent and Lukas Haraslin, but Kosovo fought back with efforts from Veldin Hodza and Fisnik Asllani.

Kosovo, who were only admitted to UEFA and FIFA competitions a decade ago, then went in front courtesy of Florent Muslija and got another goal from Kreshnik Hajrizi.

David Strelec’s stoppage-time strike wasn’t enough to deny Kosovo, who will host Turkey for the right to go to the World Cup. Ferdi Kadioglu scored a second-half winner for Turkey in a 1-0 victory over Romania in their play-off semi-final in Istanbul.

Turkey are bidding to reach the showpiece tournament for the first time since finishing third in South Korea and Japan 24 years ago.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2026

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MIAMI: World number one and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka subdued second-ranked rival Elena Rybakina 6-4, 6-3 on Thursday to book a Miami Open title clash with American Coco Gauff.

Sabalenka, who fell to Rybakina in the Australian Open final before turning the tables on the Kazakh in the Indian Wells title match this earlier this month, broke the big-serving Rybakina twice in each set to come out on top in the blockbuster semi-final and keep her bid for the “Sunshine Double” of Indian Wells and Miami on track.

Men’s world number two Jannik Sinner, who like Sabalenka lifted his first Indian Wells title two weeks ago, also advanced, dominating American Frances Tiafoe 6-2, 6-2 to reach the men’s semi-finals.

Their victories mean both the ATP and WTA could see a “Sunshine Double” in the same year for the first time since Novak Djokovic and Victoria Azarenka swept the two prestigious hardcourt tournaments back in 2016.

Sabalenka, who had to save a match point in overcoming Rybakina in the Indian Wells final, applied ruthless pressure on Rybakina’s serve while delivering a sterling service performance that featured nine aces — including four in a row across the seventh and ninth games of the opening set.

Sabalenka seized the first break for a 3-1 lead in the opening. Rybakina broke back, but Sabalenka broke again to pocket the set and too control in the second with a break for 2-0 in a game which Rybakina led 40-0.

Trailing 0-4, Rybakina clawed back a break for 4-1 but Sabalenka wouldn’t flinch again. Rybakina saved one match point on her own serve before Sabalenka served it out with a love game punctuated by a fierce forehand winner.

Four-time Grand Slam champion Sinner needed just 71 minutes to dispatch Tiafoe and set up a semi-final meeting with fourth-ranked German Alexander Zverev — who swept past 19th-ranked Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo 6-1, 6-2 in just 65 minutes.

Fourth-ranked Gauff, who had needed three sets in each of her prior four matches, overwhelmed Czech Karolina Muchova 6-1, 6-1 to secure her place in Saturday’s women’s final.

Gauff surrendered a break on a double fault in the opening game against Muchova then won the next 10 games.

She broke Muchova again to finish the match after 89 minutes, booking her final berth less than three weeks after she retired from her third-round match at Indian Wells with a nerve issue affecting her left arm.

Sinner stretched his ATP Masters 1000 set win streak to 30, having not dropped a set at the level since last October in Shanghai.

He broke Tiafoe to open the match, and was off and running, dropping just nine points on his serve in the match.

Sinner, the 2024 Miami champion, fired 14 aces and 33 winners in all against 15 unforced errors.

Sinner is vying to become the first man to win both Indian Wells and Miami in the same year since Roger Federer in 2017.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2026

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