Mohammad Rizwan-led Multan Sultans outclassed Shaheen Afridi's Lahore Qalandars to qualify for their consecutive Pakistan Super League (PSL) final. Qalandars suffered a monumental batting collapse as they got all out for 76 chasing a target of 161 at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.
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After opting to bat first, Usman Khan and Rizwan got Sultans off to a steady start. They scored 46 runs in the powerplay overs. Haris Rauf got the breakthrough with the wicket of Usman who scored 29 runs from 28 deliveries. Rilee Rossouw hit a six off Rauf but got dismissed by Zaman Khan in the 11th over.
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In the 14th over, Kieron Pollard tried to accelerate and hit Rashid Khan with a six. In the same over, Afghan leggie beat Rizwan's bat to get him bowled. The skipper scored 33 off 29 deliveries. Tim David and Pollard made use of the slog overs. They got help from Qalandars who dropped their catches. Pollard got to his half-century in the penultimate over with consecutive sixes off Afridi. The left-arm pacer conceded 20 runs from his final over.Β
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In the final over, Rauf kicked it up with a notch with his raw pace and got Pollard, Khushdil Shah out off consecutive deliveries. Sultans scored 160/5 including Pollard's 34-ball 57 which included one four and three sixes. On the other end, David remained unbeaten for 15-ball 22.
The run chase got off to a poor start. Sheldon Cottrell got hit for a six in his second over but got the wickets of Mirza Baig (8) and Abdullah Shafique (0). Anwar Ali struck in his second over as well with the wicket of in-form of Fakhar Zaman (6).
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Cottrell bowled a few wides in his third over but managed to get Afridi out for a two-ball duck. Sam Billings tried to rebuild the innings but played too many dot deliveries. In the 10th over, Hussain Talat got run out to add to Qalandars' problems.
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In the 10th over, Pollard dismissed Sikandar Raza as Qalandars lost six wickets for 44 runs. In the next over, Billings gave in to the dot ball pressure. The English wicketkeeper-batter scored 19 runs from 27 deliveries. Hard-hitting Rashid could not make a difference either and got stumped off Mir's bowling. Rauf and David Wiese provided some entertainment down the order. But Mir got rid of Wiese (12) and Abbas Afridi dismissed Rauf (15). Qalandars got all out for 76 with 33 balls left in the innings.
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