Malik said he was calm as he knew they had batsmen who could change the complexion of the game. “I was calm which comes by playing and I knew that we have explosive batsmen at five, six and seven who could hit big when needed and that’s what I was clam,” said Malik. “We bowled well and the credit goes to the bowlers.”
Islamabad skipper Mohammad Sami admitted his team were 20 runs short. “We were some 20 runs short,” said Sami. “We lost wickets at regular intervals and that pushed us back.” It was Ronchi who dealt in sixes when Islamabad batted. Islamabad, who were off to winning start with a victory over Lahore on Thursday, raced to 58 by the eight over but a cluster of wickets halted their progress.
After a four-run first over, Ronchi launched attack against spinner Chris Green, hitting him for two sixes but wickets of Rizwan Hussain (four) and Cameroon Delport (nought) pulled them back. But Ronchi — top scorer of PSL last year with 435 in 11 matches — was not bothered as he smashed two sixes and a four off Andre Russell to complete his fifty off just 31 deliveries. But once he fell, caught at deep square-leg off Afridi, only 36 runs came in the next eight overs.
Next over Hussain Talat fell for seven while Phil Salt (four) and Asif Ali (two) left Islamabad in a dire strait at 76-6. Shadab scored 15 but it were Samit Patel and Faheem Ashraf (both scoring 20 not out) who took Islamabad to 125-7, adding 29 — 13 in the penultimate over. Shafiq earned man of the match award for his excellent bowling, mixing his slower ones to the best effect in his debut PSL match.
Brief scores:
Multan Sultans 126 for 5 (Shoaib Malik 31 not out, Shadab Khan 2-20) beat Islamabad United 125 for 7 (Luke Ronchi 51, Asad Shafiq 2-11, Shahid Afridi 2-18) by five wickets
Published in Daily Times, February 17th 2019.
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