After a tough time, Multan Sultans has finally registered their first win in previous six PSL matches. This win, perhaps, is exactly what was required from them to get back on track.
After a splendid bowling display, Multan got to bat and started off rather slow yet again. Losing early wickets put pressure on the team but they did not look nervous at all.
Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi took charge of the match and saw the game till the end. The former managed 31 from 29 deliveries whereas the latter scored 16 off just 8 balls.
1st Innings:
Multan Sultans, the best bowling unit in the competition, took on arguably the toughest and perhaps the best batting side in shape of Islamabad United.
The match started and there were some flashbacks of the previous PSL edition as Luke Ronchi started dispatching bowlers all around the ground. However, his partners on the other end kept surrendering to Multan Sultans’ premium bowling attack.
Luke Ronchi reached to his half-century but Islamabad was still in trouble at 61/3 and reached the 100 runs in 18th over at an expense of 7 wickets.
Ali Shafiq and Muhammad Irfan were perhaps the picks of the bowlers as they destroyed the Islamabad batting lineup and kept their line extremely close.
Junaid Khan and Shahid Afridi also picked up two wickets each but Muhammad Irfan’s economy was the best among all after Shafiq.
Islamabad’s long batting lineup helped them provide some resistance lower down the order as Faheem Ashraf and Samit Patel scored 20 runs each.
Multan Sultans need 126 runs to win!
Pre-Match:
Shoaib Malik won the toss and elected to bat first against Islamabad United. The Islamabad team remains unchanged from their first win over Lahore Qalanadars.
Multan, however, has made a couple of changes; Ali Shafiq and Johnson Charles in for Multan, Moores and Ilyas out.
The playing XI is as follows:
Multan Sultans: Shan Masood, Johnson Charles(wk), Laurie Evans, Shoaib Malik(capt), Andre Russell, Shahid Afridi, Hammad Azam, Chris Green, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan, Ali Shafiq
Islamabad United: Luke Ronchi(wk), Rizwan Hussain, Cameron Delport, Philip Salt, Hussain Talat, Asif Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Samit Patel, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Sami(capt), Waqas Maqsood
For more information, check our PSL coverage.
