KARACHI: Multan Sultans defeated Islamabad United in an intense match by 20 runs, continuing their unbeaten streak in the Pakistan Super League’s (PSL) seventh edition at the National Stadium.
Despite the top order’s early collapse, Shadab Khan played a sensational inning and scored 91 runs off 42 balls with the help of five fours and nine sixes.
No other batter could score even 25 runs against a strong Multan Sultans’ bowling attack, who were able to restrict the United to 197 for the loss of 10 wickets in 20 overs.
Khushdil Shah picked up four wickets, David Willey three, while Anwar Ali and Rumman Raees took a scalp each.
Multan’s innings
Earlier, Tim David (71) and Rilee Rossouw (67) played exceptionally well to help Multan Sultans hand a 218-run target to Islamabad United.
After being invited to bat first at the National Stadium, the Sultans were in a fix as Mohammad Rizwan (12) and Sohaib Maqsood (13) were dismissed under five overs.
But Shan Masood kept playing and scored 43 runs off 31 balls with the help of five fours and two sixes. His partnership with Rossouw ended in the ninth over when Marchant de Lange got his wicket.
Later, Rossouw and David punished the United’s bowlers and put up impressive runs on the board. In the 19th over, Mohammad Wasim dismissed David for 71, but the damage had been done.
The last over was also good for the Sultan as Hasan Ali took a wicket but Rossouw kept the scoreboard ticking and added 21 runs to the total, with the help of three sixes.
Playing XI
Islamabad United: Alex Hales, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Paul Stirling, Mubasir Khan, Shadab Khan (c), Asif Ali, Azam Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Marchant de Lange
Multan Sultans: Shan Masood, Mohammad Rizwan (wk, c) Sohaib Maqsood, Rilee Rossouw, Khushdil, Shah Tim, David, David Willey, Anwar Ali, Abbas Afridi, Imran Tahir, Rumman Raees. -Agencies
