Multan Sultans prevailed by five wickets over defending champions Islamabad United in a low-scoring 2019 Pakistan Super League (PSL) clash at Dubai on Saturday.
Chasing a modest 126 for victory after Islamabad has been restricted to 125-7, Multan crossed the finish line with eight balls to spare with Shahid Afridi starring with both bat and ball.
Islamabad United opener Luke Ronchi started in explosive fashion, just as he had done on Friday against Lahore Qalandars, but wickets kept falling at the other end.
The New Zealand veteran was almost a one-man army while Rizwan Hussain, Cameron Delport and Hussain Talat fell cheaply at the other end.
Ronchi struck as many as five sixes and one boundary to bring up a superb half-century. By the team the right-hander was dismissed by Shahid Afridi, he had scored 51 runs out of Islamabad United’s total of 61 runs.
Afridi, meanwhile, was terrific with the ball and followed up his wicket of Ronchi with the dismissal of the dangerous Philip Salt by castling the Englishman’s stumps. The veteran all-rounder was in fine form with the ball, finishing with figures of 2-18 from his four overs.
Faheem Ashraf struck a couple of late blows with the bat to help Islamabad United cross the 120-run mark in the end.
OUT! Waqas Maqsood produces an edge from Johnson Charles, who is dismissed without troubling the scorers. Multan Sultans are 5/1 after 3 overs
— Cricingif (@_cricingif) February 16, 2019
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details 👉 https://t.co/bUvv1oUW3H #SAvSL pic.twitter.com/SeA9Ttqtko
Multan’s response got off to the worst possible start with West Indies dasher Johnson Charles falling for a six-ball duck. His opening partner Shan Masood got a decent start but an excellent bit of fielding from Shadab Khan saw him run-out in the eighth over to give Islamabad another opening.
Shadab then backed up his impressive fielding with an excellent spell of four overs which saw him concede just 20 runs while picking up the wickets of Laurie Evans and Hammad Azam.
The Pakistan leg-spinner’s spell had seen the asking-rate creep up to almost 10 before Andre Russell and skipper Shoaib Malik took control for Multan.
Russell struck two boundaries and a huge six off the 16th over bowled by Waqas Mahmood to bring the asking-rate down once again but Mohammad Sami introduced a late twist by dismantling the West Indies all-rounder’s stumps in the next over.
However, two vintage back-to-back sixes from ‘Boom Boom’ Afridi in the penultimate over finished off matters for Multan as Islamabad fell to their first defeat of the tournament.
BRIEF SCORES
Islamabad United: 125-7 (20 overs)
Luke Ronchi: 51 (33)
Shahid Afridi: 2-18 (four overs)
Ali Shafiq: 2-11 (four overs)
Multan Sultans: 126-5 (18.4 over)
Shoaib Malik: 31 not out (29)
Shadab Khan: 2-20 (four overs)
