Multan Sultans continued their sensational show in the Pakistan Super League 2021-2022 as they rode on Mohammad Rizwan's captain innings of unbeaten 51 off 42 to sink Islamabad United by six wickets on Sunday (February 20).
With the the defending champions Multan has clinched nine victories out of 10 matches. This is the most by any team in the group stage in a single edition of PSL.
However, the 2016 & 2018 champions United made it to the play-offs despite losing the match on the basis of superior Net Run Rate (NRR). The Asif Ali-led side have a NRR of -0.069 ahead of Quetta Gladiators' -0.708 as both the teams managed to garner 8 points out of 10 matches they played.
United elected to bat first after winning the toss, however their batters miserably failed to click, proving captain Asif Ali's decision wrong. United who have had multiple recent injuries to deal with had to field a largely inexperienced side. Debutant Mohammad Huraira (2) was the first to go. Liam Dawson scored 22 off 11 balls (five fours) but his departure with the total at 36 triggered a collapse. The Sultans squeezed the United middle and lower order as from 36 for one they slipped to 77 for seven.
The spinning duo of Sultans Asif Afridi and Imran Tahir (Man of the Match) maintained their stranglehold in the middle overs. The seasoned Imran produced an outstanding and miserly spell of 4-0-8-2. Asif took two for 21 in his four overs. Pacer Musa Khan with 26 runs (21 balls, two fours, two sixes) was the top-scorer in United’s drab effort. Their total of 105 for seven is the lowest team total in the PSL 7.
Sultans, Qalandars, Peshawar Zalmi and United will be playing the HBL PSL 7 playoffs. Sultans will play the Qualifier with either Qalandars or Zalmi on Wednesday. Qalandars are favourites to finish number two but a big defeat in their final group match to Zalmi tomorrow can push them to three and Zalmi to the second spot. United will be playing Eliminator 1 against Qalandars or Zalmi on Thursday.
While chasing a facile target of 106 , Sultans had crashed to 43 for four in 7.2 overs as Dawson followed-up on his 22-run batting contribution with three wickets in his opening spell with the new ball. Skipper Mohammad Rizwan came to his side’s rescue for the umpteenth time as he dropped anchor with an unbeaten innings of 51 (42 balls, two fours, one six).
Rizwan added 68 runs in the unbroken fifth-wicket stand with David Willey who scored 28 off 32. Rizwan finished the match with a majestic six over the extra cover boundary that took him past his 50. The wicketkeeper batter is at number two in the PSL batting charts with 479 runs at an average of 68.42 behind Qalandars’ Fakhar Zaman – 521 runs at an average of 57.88. Sultans overhauled the target with 16 balls left.
