Daily Times

Today’s Match

Multan Sultans vs Islamabad United at 07:30 pm

KARACHI: David Willey’s last over wickets and Shan Masood’s 88-run knock sealed the deal for Multan Sultans in their Pakistan Super League (PSL) VII match against Quetta Gladiators at National Stadium here on Monday night. Multan have now won three straight matches and sit at the top of the points table. Quetta are placed third with one win and two defeats in three matches.

Chasing victory target 175, Quetta were smelling victory in the last over as they needed eight runs from six balls, but Willey did not let them get the better of Multan. Willey dismissed two players — Sohail Tanvir (13) and Naseem Shah (1) — to take Multan to a 6-run victory, as Quetta were all-out at 168, with a ball remaining. The left-armer finished with three for 22. Multan dominated Quetta’s run chase from the beginning with Khushdil Shah removing Quetta’s both openers and reducing them to 29 for two. Khushdil then accounted for Sarfaraz Ahmed to finish with extraordinary figures of three for 16 from four overs. That Quetta came in the touching distance of the win was because of Iftikhar’s onslaught in the 17th over, in which he smashed three sixes and a four off Imran. Iftikhar plundered 30 off 13 before he was removed in the 18th over.

Earlier, after being invited to bat, Multan managed to score 174 in 20 overs for the loss of four wickets, but there were several hiccups along the way. The lead run-scorer of PSL 7, Mohammad Rizwan, was dismissed in the second over — and that too for a duck. After the skipper went down, Multan were sailing smoothly, but in the ninth over, James Faulkner was dismissed for 21. During these dismissals, and Rilee Rossouw’s run out in the middle of it, Masood was leading the way and keeping Multan’s boat afloat. Finally, he was also sent packing in the second ball of the 19th over, but he had done his job by scoring 88 runs, with the help of six fours and four sixes. In the last over, Tim David and Khushdil Shah put up a good fight as they scored 16 runs. Of the seven games played between the two sides, so far, Multan have won three and Quetta have pocketed victories in four games.

Brief scores: Multan Sultans 174-4, 20 overs (Shan Masood 88, Tim David 28 not out, Rilee Rossouw 21, Sohaib Maqsood 21; Mohammad Hasnain 2-27) VS Quetta Gladiators 168 all out, 19.5 overs (Ben Duckett 47, Iftikhar Ahmed 30, Ahsan Ali 24, Sarfaraz Ahmed 21; Khushdil Shah 3-16, David Willey 3-22, Imran Tahir 3-24)