Khawaja’s 70 runs in useless, Islamabad United path through 30 runs
Multan Sultan beat 180 for five wickets (Maqsood 59, Khushdil 42*, Charles 41, Shadab 2-25) Islamabad United 149 (Khwaja 70, Tanveer 3-17, Mujarbani 3-31, Tahir 2-29) through 31 runs
Multan Sultans beat Islamabad United for the primary time this season to seal their position in Thursday’s PSL ultimate. The win within the first qualifier additionally set aside their doubtful report of being the one PSL facet with out their ultimate look thus far; League-toppers United entered the second one eliminator on Tuesday for every other shot on the ultimate.
Tanveer defends and Khwaja’s lone struggle
United is probably not intimidated through maximum totals given their marketing campaign up to now, however Tanvir has definitely instilled in them with the brand new ball. Colin Munro walked up the pitch to him at the first ball, making an attempt to negate his inswingers – simplest to yorker himself and tonk the center stump.
Tanveer then stuck Shadab Khan on level with a gradual supply; Amidst all this, No 3 Muhammad Akhlaq was once despatched again with an immediate hit from Imran Khan at brief fantastic leg. United scored 14 for three within the 3rd over; Historically, no longer many groups have gained this layout after shedding such a lot of wickets within the powerplay. And that can in the end be the case for United.
Khawaja was once the one batsman – even all over the cave in – to plot to attain, the use of the feature contact play to attenuate possibility and nonetheless to find barriers. But the chase hinged on whether or not he may take the innings deeper with Iftikhar Ahmed and Asif Ali, two different skilled batsmen, and that was once to not be the case. Iftikhar Blessing was once performed with a soar in an try to reduce Mujarbani, and Asif went previous Imran Tahir’s legbreak to be stumped.
The goal was once but to be chased after scoring 61 runs for five wickets. Khawaja opened – scoring 18 runs off 4 Mujrabani balls at a time – and the batting intensity intended United threw a flourish of overdue. But it was once an excessive amount of to take away the wear on the best.
Maqsood assists in keeping the velocity flowing
Mohammad Rizwan’s determination to bat first didn’t cross down smartly at the non-public entrance; On evaluate – for the duck – he was once stuck in the back of the gloves. But United’s hard-fought first two overs was once just a brief victory as Maqsood stampeded himself at the game within the subsequent over, opening Faheem Ashraf’s over with a big slap at further duvet adopted through two extra Driven completely on time. This was once the primary indication that it was once a pitch that assisted in boundary-scoring.
The following few additionally got here off Maqsood’s bat, within the type of two sixes at sq. leg, one off the entrance and one at the again foot. While Shan Masood was once stored calm on the different finish, the scoring price remained – he completed the powerplay at 44 for 1.
Shadab punches, Charles and Khushdil punch
When Shadab fielded himself any signal of the pitch being a natural belter was once suspected. After being pulled via midwicket on his first two balls – to start with, actually via Hasan Ali’s legs – he discovered one to tear again at Masood and were given caught in entrance. Two balls later, Riley Rossouw performed for a googly at the entrance foot and lbw – additionally caught at the evaluate – when the legbreak stuck him in entrance of the center. After a budding partnership of 53, the Sultans unexpectedly made 59 for three wickets.
But Johnson Charles was once within the attacking temper – and it confirmed from his first ball, when he made a managed sweep for a boundary in opposition to Shadab. From there, he took at the position of the attacker. An innings of 41 off 21 balls, during which he was once hitting a 4 in nearly each over, and 3 sixes hit took Sultan for 122 prior to being brushed aside within the fifteenth over.
Maqsood was once in the end brushed aside within the seventeenth over, and United appear to have pulled issues again – he was once brushed aside for simplest 8 runs off 8 balls. But the nineteenth over went horribly flawed as Khushdil plucked them from 145 to 174 in opposition to Aaqif Javed for 4 consecutive sixes; Three of them swung to the leg facet, and one ended up on 3rd guy as he appeared to swing it to the leg facet. The Sultans had to end after it fell on a just right pitch.
Varun Shetty is a Sub-Editor at ESPNcricinfo
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