Multan Sultans beat Peshawar Zalmi by 47 runs at Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium on Thursday to clinch their first-ever PSL title.
Chasing a huge target of 207, PZ was off to a solid start after Kamran Akmal went on to attack Sultans pacers. Akmal took the majority of the responsibility to strike the bowlers after racing towards 36 inside 5 overs.
Meanwhile, Hazratullah Zazai took his time to open the account. And he finally got the chance in the 6th over after hitting Blessing Muzarabani for a six.
However, the right-handed pacer got his revenge on the very next ball while trying to cut a slower short ball straight into the hands of Shan Masood at the point.
After conceding 11 runs in the first over, Imran Khan came back to pick up the big fish, Kamran Akmal, on 36. The right-hander tried to go across the line but was defeated by the pace and got himself bowled.
Shoaib Malik and Jonathan Wells tried to steady things but the latter was eventually run-out on 6, hats off to the good work done by Rilee Rossouw in the field.
Zalmi needed the veteran right-hander, Shoaib Malik to up the ante and Malik decided to go against Imran Tahir, hitting 21 runs in the spinner’s over.
Rovman Powell (23) took inspiration from Malik and scored 23 runs before Mazarabani ended the 66 runs stand.
Sherfane Rutherford came next and he made his intentions clear after smashing a six and a boundary in the same over of Muzarabani.
With Zalmi needing 70 runs in 30 balls, the 2017 champions were dealt a major blow after Malik lost his wicket at deep by Imran Tahir for 48.
Tahir tightens up his laces to have a big run on the ground before dismissing the dangerous Rutherford, who tried to play a wild slog but was caught by Rizwan for 16. The leg-spinner also clean bowled the Zalmi’s skipper, Wahab Riaz for a duck.
But he wasn’t done yet as he got rid of Mohammad Imran on the final ball of his four-over spell. Imran Khan and Muzarabani finished with two wickets each as Zalmi were restricted to 159-9.
Earlier, Sohaib Maqsood and Rilee Rossouw’s 98 runs stand for Multan Sultans to post 206-4 against Peshawar Zalmi.
Sameen Gul, who was replaced by Umaid Asif in the final match troubled the left-hander, Shan Masood with his variation after giving only one run in the over.
On the other hand, Mohammad Rizwan took the left-hand pacer, Mohammad Irfan to hit him a maximum and a boundary in the powerplay.
After struggling to get something in the first overs of Samuel Gul, Masood finally got the better of him to score him three boundaries in the fifth over.
Sultans’ openers were going at their best when the young gun, Mohammad Imran got himself in the game and delivered the good balls after broking the 68-runs stand by dismissing Masood for 37.
Masood tried to go big after Imran but missed the slower ball, which broke his stumps. Imran’s spell only became better when he took an edge from Rizwan, to pick his second as the Sultans skipper was dismissed in a caught behind for 30.
Sohaib Maqsood decided to pick up from where Rizwan’s had left and he dispatched Zalmi skipper, Wahab Riaz for two boundaries and a six in the 13th over.
Rilee Rossouw made his statement clear straight away as he went after Ammad Butt and hit the all-rounder for two sixes. Zalmi was hoping for Imran to break another crucial partnership.
However, the young pacer couldn’t stop the flow of runs, with Maqsood continuing his rich vein of form to bring up his half-century in only 26 balls. Rossouw cleared himself in the final after bringing up his half-century in only 20 balls.
Although the left-hander departed on the next ball after reaching his fifty, he had already done the damage. Maqsood, on the other side, but the highest gear as his unbeaten 65-run knock, along with Khushdil Shah’s two sixes in the final over, took Sultans to a mammoth total.
“Credit to god, who took us from bottom to the top tonight. Credit to our managers as well, who’ve made it so comfortable for us during this second leg. Finals are pressure games – you can’t avoid that in the final. We discussed that and brought it down to two things – it would either be the pressure of batting first or batting second,”
said the winning skipper, Mohammad Rizwan.
“Playing a final is a big deal. The way we’ve played throughout this tournament, have to credit my team. But we didn’t play well today, they played much better than us. I think the decision to bowl first was fine – we’ve been saying from the start that we leak runs in the back end, and that’s why we bowled. Whether we’ve won or lost, we’ve done it as a team. No blame games,”
said the losing skipper, Wahab Riaz.
Brief Scores: Multan Sultans 206/4 in 20 overs (Shoaib Maqsood 65, Rilee Rossouw 50; Sameen Gul 2-26, Mohammad Irfan 2-47) beat Peshawar Zalmi 159/9 in 20 overs (Shoaib Malik 48, Kamran Akmal 36; Imran Tahir 3-33, Blessing Muzarabani 2-26) by 47 runs.