Multan Sultans Vs Peshawar Zalmi | Match 16 | PSL 7, Sultans 182 for 7 (Masood 68, David 34, Wahab 2-34) beat Zalmi 140 (Malik 44, Muzarabani 3-18, Khushdil 3-25) by 42 runs |
New city, same old result. The PSL may have shifted to Lahore from Karachi, but it made little difference to the relentless Multan Sultans who made light work of Peshawar Zalmi, brushing them aside by 42 runs. It was set up by a luxuriant 49-ball 68 from Shan Masood, whose 98-run opening stand with Mohammad Rizwan set the platform for Sultans to set a target of 183.
Shan Masood, Blessing Muzarabani fashion Multan Sultans’ 42-run win
Like Muzarabani, Khushdil Shah also grabbed three wickets, as he cleaned up Zalmi’s tail
Multan Sultans 182 for 7 (Masood 68, David 34, Wahab 2-34) beat Peshawar Zalmi 140 (Malik 44, Muzarabani 3-18, Khushdil 3-25) by 42 runs
New city, same old result. The PSL may have shifted to Lahore from Karachi, but it made little difference to the relentless Multan Sultans who made light work of Peshawar Zalmi, brushing them aside by 42 runs. Multan Sultans Vs Peshawar Zalmi | Match 16 | PSL 7. It was set up by a luxuriant 49-ball 68 from Shan Masood, whose 98-run opening stand with Mohammad Rizwan set the platform for Sultans to set a target of 183.
Then their bowlers, spearheaded by Blessing Muzarabani, got rid of the openers early before the others applied the squeeze. As the asking rate rose and the wickets began to fall, the wheels quickly fell off Wahab Riaz’s side, and they succumbed for 140.
Zalmi had won the toss and inserted Sultans in, and for the first half of the innings, seemed to have a handle on the game. Rizwan wasn’t his usual bustling self at the start, happy to play second fiddle to Masood, whose sensational form this PSL shows no signs of abating. Six fours in his first 14 balls, including three successive boundaries off Mohammad Umar in the fourth over, got Sultans off to a speedy start, thus more than making up for Rizwan’s sluggishness.
With Rizwan scoring just 18 in his first 26 balls, it felt as if Sultans were leaving runs out there, but with Tim David and Khushdil Shah to follow, their ability to post a daunting total remained largely undiluted. David was lightning-quick out of the blocks, smashing 33 off his first 14 deliveries – he eventually finished with 34 from 18 – including two monstrous consecutive sixes off Saqib Mahmood. Alongside a cameo by Rilee Rossouw, it powered the defending champions to 182.
Sultans continue to give the impression of every game having a new hero, as Thursday’s brightest star came from Zimbabwe. Muzarabani got into Zalmi in the second over of the chase, removing both Kamran Akmal and Haider Ali in the space of four balls. Akmal’s dismissal came thanks to a spectacular catch by Shahnawaz Dahani, who knocked a diving Rizwan out of his way to hold on, before Haider chopped one on to his stumps.
It seemed as if Zalmi were playing catch-up from that point on, though Sultans were guilty of allowing them back into the game with a couple of dropped catches. Abbas Afridi put Liam Livingstone down at mid-off in what could easily have been the game’s turning point, as a giant six by the Englishman over mid-on next ball showed.
But no one from Zalmi could really hang in and play the sort of innings Masood had. Afridi made amends for dropping him by getting rid of him a few overs later, something which dried the runs up for Sultans. The next 16 balls saw just ten runs scored, and that pressure brought about the end of Hussain Talat.
Muzarabani returned to have Sherfane Rutherford caught on the off side, and Shoaib Malik’s 31-ball 44 came to an end when he finally holed out to cow corner off Imran Tahir’s bowling.
By then, the asking rate was well over 13, and Ben Cutting was once more left in an impossible position, just as he had against the same opposition a few days earlier in Karachi. He did what he had done then, giving poor Dahani another pasting, but as on that day, the best he could hope for was an improvement in his personal statistics.
Khushdil did for him thanks to a smart catch from David, before a stunning diving grab from Khushdil himself off his own bowling put paid to the Zalmi innings altogether. It was an apt way to finish a game, the individual brilliance topping up what had been a brilliant team performance.
Unstoppable Multan Sultans down Peshawar Zalmi to make playoffs
Multan Sultans sealed a playoff spot after defeating Peshawar Zalmi by 42 runs, and are unbeaten in their sixth game this season. They stretched their lead over second-placed Islamabad United by 6 points as the Pakistan Super League moved from Karachi to Lahore.
Opener Shan Masood’s 68 at the top set the foundation for the Sultans to build on towards a big total. Masood and Mohammad Rizwan shared a 98-run opening stand, but the skipper let Masood take centrestage. While Masood was excellent, Rizwan struggled for timing especially against the spinners before falling for a run-a-ball 34. Tim David’s quickfire 18-ball 34 made the difference after that as he didn’t let the Sultans lose momentum with three sixes and two fours. They could’ve gotten more but timely wickets helped Zalmi restrict Sultans to 182. Just 7 runs came off the last over, but 74 runs came in between overs 14 and 19.
Even dew couldn’t help Zalmi in the tall chase after they were reduced to 5 for 2 in the second over with Blessing Muzarabani accounting for both openers. Liam Livingstone and Shoaib Malik revived the chase, but once the Englishman fell, Sultans’ bowlers struck at regular intervals. Malik held his end, keeping his side in the chase, but didn’t find support at the other end. Ben Cutting came in and smashed Shahnawaz Dahani for two sixes and a four but his counterattack didn’t make much of a difference as Zalmi were bowled out for 140 in the final over.
Zalmi, placed second-last, slipped to their fourth loss this season with just two wins in 6 games.
Brief scores: Multan Sultans 182/7 in 20 overs (Shan Masood 68, Mohammad Rizwan 34, Tim David 34; Saqib Mahmood 2-44, Wahab Riaz 2-34, Salman Irshad 2-34) beat Peshawar Zalmi (Shoaib Malik 44; Blessing Muzarabani 3-18, Shahnawaz Dahani 2-35, Khushdil Shah 3-26) by 42 runs.
| Shan Masood | Blessing Muzarabani | Khushdil Shah | Multan Sultans | Peshawar Zalmi | Sultans vs Zalmi | Pakistan Super League
