Multan Sultans have surpassed Lahore Qalandars to qualify for playoffs after an 80 runs victory on Friday at Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium.
After facing three consecutive losses, Qalandars experimented by promoting Ben Dunk as an opener but the experiment did not work out after Dunk (5) lost the wicket on the second over by Imran Khan.
Sultan’s young gun, Shahnawaz Dahani was introduced in the fifth over and he struck on the very first ball of his over after Fakhar Zaman lost his wicket on an inside edge straight into the hands of the keeper, when he tried to pull.
Blessing Mazarbani also struck on his first over as Mohammad Hafeez did not use his experience and played a loose shot on a wide delivery straight to the backward point after playing a struggling knock of 14 off 13 balls.
Qalandars ended up 34/3 at the end of the powerplay. The skipper, Sohail Akhtar came next and a lot was expected from him but he also ended on 5 after being stumped off Imran Tahir.
With the run-rate increasing at higher speed, Agha Salman tried a scoop shot but ended up losing his wicket off Mazarbani, caught by Mohammad Rizwan.
James Faulkner was handed the match in a do-or-die situation and he made his intentions clear after charging Mazarbani for a couple of sixes.
Tim David was also in great touch but he was undone by Imran Khan in the 13th over while trying to go big, Qalandars went on to their knees after losing this wicket.
Faulkner’s (22) ambitions did not work out after he gave an easy catch on deep midwicket while trying to pull Dahani.
Dahani picked up another wicket of Rashid Khan with Rizwan taking a brilliant catch. Imran Khan picked up three wickets while Dahani ended up picking four wickets to bowl out Qalandars on 89.
Batting first, Sohaib Masood’s cameo of 60 runs took MS to 169/8 against LQ.
Qalandars started well after Shaheen Afridi struck on the very first ball after trappingShan Masood in an lbw.
Shaheen continued to bowl with the same anger and had an intense heat with Rizwan. MS decided to go after Faulkner and Maqsood, followed by a maximum and a couple of boundaries in his first over.
After settling down, Rizwan went after Haris Rauf and hit him a few boundaries. But Rauf did not let him go empty-handed as he picked up his wicket on the final delivery in a caught behind after scoring 15.
Rashid Khan came to join the party and he went after Johnson Charles in his second over while he was playing at 10, trapped in an lbw.
Wickets kept falling from one side but Masood continued to go with the same pace. After hitting a six to young Ahmed Daniyal, he charged three maximums to Mohammad Hafeez, to bring up his half-century in 27 balls.
Masood was joined by Rilee Rossouw to keep things moving at the same pace but then came Daniyal to break the 63 runs stand after dismissing Rossouw in the 15th over while he was playing at 29.
Masood (60) was then sent back to the pavilion in 17th over by Shaheen. Faulkner was brought back to further damage the Sultans batsman and he did the trick with a slower ball and Khushdil Shah was dismissed on 6, in a caught behind.
Imran Tahir hit a boundary to Faulkner but lost his wicket on the next ball. Shaheen picked up Mazarbani in his final over to complete three wickets.
However, it was Sohail Tanvir who summed up the innings brilliantly after hitting 24 runs in the final over bowled by Haris Rauf to get Multan’s across 160.
Brief Scores: Multan Sultans 169/8 in 20 overs (Sohaib Maqsood 60, Rilee Rossouw 29; Shaheen Afridi 3-23) lost to Lahore Qalandars 89 in 15.1 overs (James Faulkner 22; Shahnawaz Dhani 4-5, Imran Khan 3-24) by 80 runs.
