David Warner, after a string of low scores, finally arrived at the Pakistan Super League (PSL), leading the Karachi Kings with his maiden tournament half-century, taking his side through in a low-scoring thriller against the Peshawar Zalmi while ending the home leg on a high. It was a tricky wicket at the National Stadium on Monday and with the hosts losing three wickets in the powerplay, Warner had to drop anchor and guide the likes of Irfan Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Khushdil Shah and take them along to get home.
Warner got his first PSL fifty off 39 deliveries and ended up scoring a 47-ball 60 before Luke Wood, the star with the ball for the Zalmi, ended his innings with a slower delivery that gripped in the surface. During his innings, Warner got to 13,000 runs in T20 cricket, becoming the sixth batter in history to get to the milestone and the third fastest after Chris Gayle (381 innings) and Virat Kohli (386 innings) in 403rd innings.
Most runs in T20 cricket
Chris Gayle (2005-2022) - 14,562 in 455 innings
Alex Hales (2009-2025) - 13,610 in 490 innings
Shoaib Malik (2005-2025) - 13,571 in 515 innings
Kieron Pollard (2006-2025) - 13,537 in 617 innings
Virat Kohli (2007-2025) - 13,208 in 390 innings
David Warner (2007-2025) - 13,019 in 403 innings
The southpaw returned scores of 12, 0, 31 and 3 before getting to his first fifty and now will be keen to build as the Kings go on the road now. Warner went unsold in the IPL but, having led the Sydney Thunder to the final in the Big Bash League, he is still going great guns in the franchise circuit and will be keen to take the Karachi Kings to their second title.
The season has been a bit hot and cold for the Karachi Kings with three wins in five matches, but with six points on the board after the first leg, the 2020 champions will hope to get on a run with the likes of Khushdil Shah and Abbas Afridi chipping in with both bat and ball.