Karachi Kings kept their nerves in check to beat Islamabad United by five wickets in their Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2020 match at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

The Kings, who were chasing a 184-run target set by United, finished with a score of 187-5 with eight balls to spare.

The Imad Wasim-led side lost their first player in the very first over, when Babar Azam was run out by Shadab Khan on a ball by Dale Steyn.

Sharjeel Khan, who contributed 38 runs from 20 balls, was caught by wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi off Rumman Raees in the sixth over.

In the 13th over, Cameron Delport (38 off 28) was dismissed in a similar fashion, caught by Ronchi off Steyn.

Player of the match Alex Hales (52 off 30) was sent to the dugout when he was stumped by Ronchi on a ball by Ahmed Safi Abdullah while Iftikhar Ahmed was run out by Rizwan Hussain through a direct hit.

Skipper Imad and Chadwick Walton then persevered till the end to see their team home.

Earlier, two-time champions United had finished with a score of 183-3 in their allotted 20 overs.

Colin Munro and Luke Ronchi opened the innings for the home team but their partnership suffered an early setback when Munro got caught out on Mohammad Amir's ball in the second over.

Rizwan Hussain's presence on the pitch stabilised the game for United as Ronchi hit three fours and Hussain hit a sixer and two fours to drive the team's score beyond 50.

Rizwan then got caught out by AD Hales on Umer Khan's ball in the seventh over.

He was replaced by Colin Ingram. The end of the powerplay signalled a drop in the run rate as United managed to score another 14 runs before Ingram's consecutive six and four brought the home team's score to 75.

Ingram got caught out on the last ball of the 10th over.

With no further dismissals, United batsmen kept on piling runs, scoring 63 from their last five overs.

Karachi Kings had earlier won the toss and elected to field first.

Underdogs Kings and United have now won two matches each in the tournament so far. United's last match against Peshawar Zalmi was cancelled due to rain.

It was South African player and Islamabad United star Dale Steyn's first performance in the ongoing season of the PSL.

Teams

Islamabad United: Shadab Khan (c), C Munro, Rizwan Hussain, L Ronchi, CA Ingram, Asif Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Ahmed Safi Abdullah, Rumman Raees, Muhammad Musa, DW Steyn

Karachi Kings: Imad Wasim (c), Sharjeel Khan, Babar Azam, AD Hales, CS Delport, CAK Walton, Iftikhar Ahmed, CJ Jordan, Umaid Asif, Umer Khan, Mohammad Amir