Multan Sultans reign supreme at the points table after they inflicted a heavy 79-run defeat over Quetta Gladiators at National Bank Stadium, Karachi on Tuesday night. Batting first, Multan scored 185-4 on the back of half-centuries by Mohammad Rizwan and Johnson Charles. Three-wicket hauls each by David Willey and Usama Mir skittled Quetta for just 106.
Mohammad Rizwan smashed his fourth half-century this season and Charles upped the ante in the death overs with his 29-ball knock before Iftikhar Ahmed provided an ideal finish with a quickfire 20 off eight balls. The excellent batting show led by half-centurions Mohammad Rizwan and Johnson Charles, who fired the team to 185 before the bowlers took charge to inflict a heavy defeat on the opposition ahead of their own post-league eliminator clash.
Pitch and Toss
The pitch for the match looked sluggish and tacky and would help the slower bowlers coming into the picture .
Quetta Gladiator captain Rilee Rossouw won the toss and elected to field first on a pitch which looked tacky for him. Multan Sultans skipper Mohammad Rizwan who also wanted to bowl first said It’s good that we lost the toss given how things have been in last few days. I think this is a pitch where if you bowl at the right areas you’ll create problems for the batters.
This is a tricky pitch so we haven’t really planned a total and we’ll assess and then eye a target.
Both the teams went into the match unchanged.
Steady start for Multan Sultans in the powerplay as Mohammad Rizwan holds fort
Put into bat, the Sultans lost opener Yasir Khan to a miscued pull shot off Mohammed Amir. But Mohammad Rizwan and Usman Khan helped prop up a steady powerplay score of 43 thanks in large part to a 17-run fifth over against Abrar Ahmed. The leggie hit back to dismiss Usman Khan with a flatter delivery that skidded off the surface to ping the batter’s pads in front of the stumps. At the half-way mark of the innings, Sultans’ progress was still sedate at 70/2.
Multan Sultans’ opening batters, Yasir Khan and Mohammad Rizwan could only manage a 16-run opening stand with the former caught behind for 12 on 11, with two fours, in the third over, after Gladiators opted to field first.
What followed was a 52-run second-wicket stand as Usman Khan joined Mohammad Rizwan in the middle to bring stability to Multan’s innings after the early wicket. In the fifth over, Rizwan hit a six while Usman hit two consecutive fours to get the scoreboard moving. Sultans ended the powerplay at 43-1. In the 10th over, Usman (21, 23b, 3x4s) was stunned by Abrar Ahmed, who bowled a magic delivery to outfox the right-hand batter.
Johnson Charles and Mohammad Rizwan propels Multan Sultans to 185 for 4
Johnson Charles joined Mohammad Rizwan and the pair produced a quick injection of momentum with each batter striking a six in the two following overs. With Mohammad Rizwan heading towards another half-century score, Charles took over and muscled Usman Tariq over deep mid-wicket for a six and then showed off the deft side to his game by dabbing a cut past point for four.
Mohammad Rizwan struck another six post his milestone but fell for a 47-ball 69 attempting to loft an Amir off-cutter. Charles, however, doled out more punishment to Tariq in the following over, hitting the mystery spinner for two more fours and a six. The West Indian, who got to a 27-ball half-century, was ably supported at the death by an Iftikhar Ahmed cameo as the Sultans plundered 77 in the final six overs to pose a daunting 185, on the very ground where Peshawar had defended 147 just the previous night.
Johnson Charles, the next batter in, partnered with Rizwan for the longest partnership of the innings; yielding 68 from 43 deliveries. Charles, who contributed 32 from 19 to the partnership, played the aggressor role. In the 14th over, Mohammad Rizwan brought up his 64th T20 half-century, doing so off 35 deliveries. The next two overs, which yielded 12 each, saw Mohammad Rizwan hit a six while Charles powered the ball to the boundary twice.
In the 17th over, Mohammad Amir dismissed Mohammad Rizwan (69, 47b, 1×4, 4x6s) after he mistimed a leg-cutter, which was caught by the Quetta skipper, Rilee Rossouw. The fourth-wicket partnership between Charles and Iftikhar Ahmed propelled Multan to a comfortable total, after the two added 46 off just 18, with the last three overs yielding 42 runs.
Mohammad Wasim Jnr removed Charles (53, 29b, 6x4s, 3x6s) on the fourth ball of the final over, after the batter had brought up his 36th T20 half-century off 27 balls. Iftikhar (20, 8b, 2x4s, 1×6) remained unbeaten at the other end, after pushing the Sultans total to 185-4.
Quetta Gladiators had a bad start in Powerplay
And an over-par target it proved to be as the Gladiators’ chase quickly unraveled. Jason Roy was sent back LBW by compatriot David Willey after missing a pull-shot, a dismissal that saw an angry verbal altercation between Roy and the Sultan fielders. In the same over, Saud Shakeel was run-out looking for a non-existent leg bye. By the time the powerplay was done, the Gladiators were three down with Willey knocking over Rilee Rossouw with an excellent yorker.
David Willey and Usama Mir powers Multan Sultan to 79 run win over Quetta Gladiators
By the time the powerplay was done, the Gladiators were three down with Willey knocking over Rilee Rossouw with an excellent yorker. They never recovered thereafter despite a fine 37 from Omair Yousuf. Usama Mir helped polish off the lower-order and his three-wicket haul to go with Willey’s own three-fer ensured the Gladiators were bowled out inside 16 overs.
Trouble deepened when Laurie Evans (1, 2b), the next batter in, was caught by Chris Jordan at short midwicket off Abbas Afridi, leaving Gladiators 47-4.
Then, Khawaja Nafay joined Omair bin Yousuf on the crease for a 26-run fifth-wicket partnership. He hit a four on the last ball of the seventh over. In the following over, Omair produced one four while Nafay smashed a six. Quetta got to 73-4 at the halfway mark. On the first ball of the 11th over, Nafay (16, 14b, 1×4, 1×6) was pinned leg-before wicket by Mohammad Ali after Multan reviewed the on-field decision.
Omair managed to score 37 off 25, on the back of three fours and two maximums, before he was caught by Jordan in the 12th over, providing Usama Mir his 19th HBL PSL 9 wicket. In the next over, Akeal Hossein edged to Mohammad Rizwan behind the stumps as Abbas got his second wicket of the innings.
Hossein walked back for a-run-a-ball six, as the batting collapse continued. Usama rattled Amir’s (3, 6b) stumps to bring Quetta eight down in the 14th over, with only 99 runs on the board. Abrar was caught behind for a two-ball duck as Multan inched closer to joining Peshawar Zalmi in the HBL PSL 9 qualifier. Usama picked up the final wicket as Quetta were bundled up for 106, the lowest total of HBL PSL 9.
Willey and Usama registered identical figures of three for 22 in four overs, while Abbas picked up two wickets. Ali also dismissed a batter. Leg spinner Usama Mir and fast bowler David Willey shared six wickets and routed Quetta Gladiators for 106 as table-toppers Multan Sultans completed their regular season with a 79-run win in the Pakistan Super League .
Presentations and Road Ahead
Riley Rossouw the loosing captain of Quetta Gladiators said :
“Our batting once again let us down. Bottom line is that I need to start scoring runs. I’m letting the team down. Hopefully in the playoffs something happens. We wanted to play good cricket going into the playoffs. That wasn’t to be,”
Player of the match and Multan Sultan’s skipper Mohammad Rizwan said :
“Would’ve batted first today. The way Charles and Iftikhar finished was brilliant. Iftikhar adds a lot of depth for us. Depending on opposition we see the best XI. Will do same against Zalmi. As you can see, our batting positions keep changing depending on what’s best,”
Quetta’s batting troubles come to the fore again as they get bundled out for the lowest total this season. 186 was a massive target on this pitch and they got nowhere close as Multan’s well rounded attack took them apart, starting with David Willey with the new ball. He broke the opening partnership which has been the shining light for Quetta this season, and the floodgates opened from then on as Abbas Afridi and Usama Mir made merry in the middle overs.
It could be argued that the game was won earlier though, when Johnson Charles and Iftikhar Ahmed smashed 46 runs in three overs towards the end of the Multan innings. They took it well out of sight for Quetta on a two-paced pitch. So Multan have taken top spot, and will have the advantage of having two cracks at making the final.