Multan Sultan made a light work of the chase courtesy their captain Muhammad Rizwan who is in the form of his life. Despite losing Chris Lynn and James Vince early on, there was no stopping Multan as they cruised to a seven-wicket win over inform Lahore Qalandars. Sultans ended the powerplay with 58 for 2 and were always ahead of the game. A partnership of 110 runs between Rizwan and Maqsood put the game to bed.
Rizwan brought up his fifty in just 27 balls. He gave a chance to Lahore but was dropped by Fakhar Zaman. A top edge of Samit’s bowling fell in no man’s land. Sohaib Maqsood also joined the party, as he hit Samit Patel for a massive six. Eventually, Rizwan fell for 76 when Shaheen Shah dismissed him. However, Maqsood’s unbeaten 61 just 41 balls, to complete the chase with 22 balls to spare.
Lahore Qalandars after being put in to bat first couldn’t find any momentum and finished with 157, an under-par total on a good pitch at the National Stadium Karachi. Multan bowlers started brilliantly with the new ball as they kept Fakhar Zaman and Sohail Akhtar quite for most of the power play. Sohail Khan, playing his first game of the tournament in place of Sohail Tanvir and young Shah Nawaz Dahani gave away just 17 in the first three overs.
As pressure built on, Akhtar tried to take the attack to Carlos Braithwaite but got hold out. Dahani did Fakhar Zaman in the next over. With Qalandars tottering at 17 for 2, it was once again Muhammad Hafeez who came to the rescue with his effortless hitting. He along with Joe Denly stitched a 89 run partnership to resurrect Lahore’s innings. At the 14 overs mark it was looking like Qalandars were easily going to get around 180 but another strike from Brathwaite after the strategic time out and Hafeez’s run out put Qalandars back.
After losing two close game Multan have finally registered their first points in this year’s campaign and have given a strong message to the others team.
