PSL: Multan dethrone the Karachi Kings

Multan Sultans met the fancied Karachi Kings on Thursday’s 1st match of PSL 6.

Multan Sultans had managed to win only one of their 5 matches played and yet, turned the tables on the Kings in a major upset.

Shah and Rossouw shine

After being put into bat, Multan did well to end up with 176-5.

A major contribution came from left-handed Khushdil Shah who remained unbeaten on 44 off 32 balls.

However, Multan started poorly losing Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the 1st over with the score at 4, falling to Imad Wasim.

Thankfully, No. 3 Sohaib Maqsood was unfazed as he went after Wasim in his second over and peppered him for a sequence of 4,4,6,4 to help Multan grab the initiative.

Maqsood fell for an aggressive 31 off 14 balls, playing on to a Waqas Maqsood delivery.

At the other end, Mohammad Rizwan played his part with a brisk 29 off 23 balls. (2 fours and a six).

Rilee Rossouw, who came in at No. 4 continued the good work with an explosive 44 off just 24 balls.

Rossouw’s pull shot off Mohammad Amir for a dismissive six was probably the shot of the day.

The defining partnership of the Multan Sultans was between Rizwan and Rossouw.

The pair raised their half-century stand off just 28 deliveries as Multan raced to 107 for 2 in ten overs.

Perera slows down Multan

Thisara Perera was the stand-out bowler for Karachi and applied the brakes on the Sultans.

Bowling wicket-to-wicket, he conceded just 12 runs in 3 overs, bagging 2 critical wickets (Rossouw and Hetmyer).

Perera’s spell led to a barren period in the innings when no boundaries were scored for 38 balls, between the 10th and 16th over!

Babar’s innings in vain

Babar Azam is undoubtedly the biggest star in the Karachi Kings line-up.

Azam and Sharjeel Khan are easily the most feared openers of the tournament.

Unfortunately, things went wrong for the Kings as Sharjeel was run-out backing up too far at the non-striker’s end in the fourth over.

No. 3 Martin Guptill was foxed by a Tahir googly but not before he had gobbled up 16 precious balls for his 11.

When Guptill fell with the score at 57 for 2 in the 10th over, the asking rate had sky-rocketed to 11.5.

Chadwick Walton stuck around to make 35 but apart from him, no batsman could support Azam, who waged a lone battle.

Azam eventually made his 18th half century in the PSL off 45 balls.

He tried to accelerate with five fours and four sixes but his 85 (off 63 balls) just wan’t enough.

For the Sultans, leg-spinner Imran Tahir picked up the wickets of Martin Guptill and Afghanistan’s Najibullah Zadran, who both scored 11 runs each,

The best figures were registered by fast bowler Imran Khan who claimed 3-28.

Khan claimed all his three wickets in the last over.

Interestingly, he was on a hat trick when he dismissed Thisara Perera and captain Imad Wasim off successive deliveries.

Multan Sultans 176 for 5 (Shah 44*, Rossouw 44, Perera 2-12) beat Karachi Kings 164 for 6 (Azam 85*, Walton 35, Imran 3-28) by 12 runs