Mohammad Rizwan hit a career-best 110 runs against the Karachi Kings as the Multan Sultans moved to the top of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2023 table with a hard-fought three-run victory in Multan on Wednesday, February 22.
Rizwan, who also skippers the side, carried the bat with his 110 runs off 64 balls and set up an 85-run partnership with his opening partner Shan Masood (51 off 33). He had a strike rate of 171.87, with 10 fours and 4 sixes to his name, and helped his side to a score of 196. This is his highest-ever score in the format.
For Karachi, only Mohammad Umar and Shoaib Malik bagged wickets.
Despite a tough target to chase down, the side from Karachi took the game to their opponents courtesy of English opener James Vince's 75 off 34 balls, with an impressive strike rate of 220.58. However, He was run out in the 10th over, with the onus now on the middle order to save the match.
Haider Ali (12 off 17) and Shoaib Malik (13 off 19) played uneventful innings but then the side's skipper Imad Wasim scored a brilliant unbeaten 46 off 26 balls. However, this was not enough as the Multan bowlers kept their cool, and the opponent batters were at bay.
Abbas Afridi was tasked with defending 18 runs in the final over but started off with a no-ball which Wasim smashed for a six. Then Ben Cutting entered the action with another six, reducing the score to seven needed off four balls. The turning point was the wicket of Cutting, which brought the momentum back in Multan's favour, and Abbas then closed out what should have been an easy win for his team.
Rizwan has now scored three T20 centuries and one in international cricket. He was very happy with the performance of his bowlers, "At the halfway stage, we thought we were 10-15 runs short. The way Abbas bowled the last over, the way Ihsanullah has been bowling this tournament, the way Ilyas bowled - they should be given credit. Cricket presents a new challenge every day and we hope that we can continue this momentum moving forward."
Meanwhile, losing captain Imad Wasim wants to see his team close out such games in the future, “We had it in the bag. We could not finish it off. It is unfortunate but we lacked game awareness in the end. I think the intent was really nice. In the middle overs, we slowed it down. In T20 cricket, we have to finish games.”
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