Rizwan, Miller, Abbas help Multan to their third straight win
By our correspondent
MULTAN: Hosts Multan Sultans maintained its winning streak with a52 runs win over Islamabad United in the seventh match of the Pakistan SuperLeague-8 at the Multan Stadium on Sunday. Multan Sultans established a target of 191 runs for Islamabad United which fell short to only get 138 runs in 17.5 overs.
Multan Sultans achieved a commendable total of 190 for four after they were invited to bat first and then restrained United with 13 balls to spare. In the collective effort, Multan Sultans showcased complete cohesion in its ranks. Mohammad Rizwan with yet another half century of the tournament and equally supportive fifth from David Miller bolstered their team’s total. Later their bowling attack led by Abbas Afridi with four wicket haul kept Multan tothe top. Islamabad United in this top of the table clash won the toss and elected to field first. Multan Sultans, having played three matches so far, won two of them and lost one.
Islamabad United, which is the second on the table, won their first match against Karachi Kings. Muhammad Ilyas gave Multan Sultans a breakthrough in his firstover when he dismissed the dangerous Irish batter Paul Stirling for just 5runs. Their other opener Hassan Nawaz came up with a few boundaries but Ilyas once again provided a breakthrough with the second wicket in his second over.
The youngster scored 21 runs off 16 balls. But the following batters Rassie Van Der Dussen and Colin Munro provided some reprieve to their total and also kept the Sultan attack at bay. Their shots helped Islamabad reach 55 in two overs and also produced 56 runs for the third wicket. It was due to their combination, Islamabad United reached 87 in 10overs.Usama Mir, however, turned the time for Multan Sultans in the next over as he picked up two wickets, Munro and Shadab Khan (1). Munro scored 31 in23 balls and for his 33 minutes stay at the crease he hit a four and two sixes as Islamabad United lost four wickets for 90.
United’s new batter Azam Khan also failed Afridi’s heroic. He failed to score off Ihsanullah’s four balls in the 11th over. Ihsanullah bowled another great over as he conceded only three runs in the 14th over, to make things much more difficult for Islamabad United. Azam Khan hit Abbas for a four in the 15th over but he took revenge the next ball and bowled him out and Islamabad United was in dire straits. Abbas then ended Islamabad United’s hopes in the 17th over as he got the wickets of Rassie van der Dussen, Faheem Ashraf and Muhammad Wasim Junior. Ihsanullah picked up the last two wickets and bowled out the Islamabad United for 138 runs.
Abbas with four wickets was the pick of bowlers while Ilyas, Ihsanullah and Usama shared two wickets each. With this massive win, Multan Sultans now has cemented their top position in the points table. Multan Sultans received an early below in today’s match when Shan Masood lost its wickets in the very first over. Rumman Raees showing variations in his attack took the wicket of Shan while conceding only three runs.
Multan suffered its second setback by the 12th over when Rilee Rossouw was dismissed but not before producing a 91 runs stand for the second wicket with skipper Rizwan. At that time, the Multan Sultan score was 95 runs. Rilee played a solid innings, scoring 36 runs off 30 balls. Rizwan who kept playing to stablise his team’s innings, could not surpass his exact 50 runs mark and as soon as he completed his fifty on a total score of 97 runs, he was dismissed by Shadab Khan. David Miller, however, exhibited a remarkable performance, coming up with exceptional batting, scoring 52 runs off just 25 balls.
Rumman, Mohammad Wasim, Shadab Khan and Tom Curran shared one wicket each but Abrar Ahmed though did not had any wicket but he was less expensive than all his mates. Earlier, Islamabad have an unchanged side from the first match while Multan Sultans have made just one change, Muhammad Ilyas has come in for Sameen Gul.