United seals the fifth consecutive victory over Sultans in the last match before the playoffs

Islamabad
PSL/ Twitter

Islamabad United defeats Multan Sultans by 4 wickets in match number 30 at Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium on Saturday to play a leading role in the playoffs.

Chasing 150 in the second innings, IU promoted Mohammad Akhlaq to the opener’s spot and he responded with a quick 26 off 15 balls.

Wicket-keeper batsman, Sohail Khan, and Mohammad Umar in their brief innings, hit a boundary and six to both the pacers.

Sultans then gave the ball to Shahnawaz Dahani in the fifth over and he proved the decision right with an immediate dismissal of Akhlaq on 26, caught by Umar.

Shadab Khan was also promoted to the number 3 spot and he hit two boundaries to Umar before hitting a six on the last ball before powerplay.

Meanwhile, Dahani gave another breakthrough in his second over and this time it was Umar Amin, playing decently at 13.

Shadab continued the hustle with the chase to keep IU on the track. However, Umar got the best of him after dismissing him in lbw on 35. 

Hussain Talat kept rotating the strike while Asif Ali was in the charging mode and he hit 26 before Usman Qadir picked up his wicket.

Talat played a cameo of 34 runs before Dahani took his catch in the final over when IU needed 3 off 4 balls. Iftikhar Ahmed hit the winnings runs to get Islamabad across the line.

Earlier, IU bowled out MS for 149 despite the 59 runs blistering knock from Shan Masood.

After being asked to bat first, Shan Masood continued his form and attacked the pacer in his traditional way. The left-hander went after Mohammad Waseem Jr and hit him three boundaries at the first three balls of the match.

Mohammad Rizwan alongside Masood was quite helpful in accelerating the runs. The pair completed the 50 runs stand in only five overs.

The introduction of the spinner did not slow down Masood’s intentions as he hit Shadab Khan out of the park to complete his half-century in 33 balls. 

However, Iftikhar Ahmed got the better of Masood after he played an ugly shot that got a leading edge and gets caught, dismissed on 59.

Sohaib Maqsood made his mindset clear after hitting Iftikhar for a maximum on the first ball.

Maqsood tried to take on Fawad Ahmed in a similar way but was caught at cover by Shadab for 12. 

The dismissal of Maqsood brought the continuous flow of wickets as Rizwan and Rilee Russouw were also caught while going for big only in the space of the next six balls.

Hammad Azam and Johnson Charles tried to steady the ship for Sultans but after scoring 27 runs together, both departed on the consecutive deliveries.

With Sultan’s continuous flow of wickets, Wasim Jr managed to get four wickets.

Brief scores: Multan Sultans 149 in 20 overs (Shan Masood 59; Mohammad Wasim Jr 4-31) lost to Islamabad United 150/6 in 19.4 overs (Shadab Khan 35; Shahnawaz Dhani 2-21) by four wickets.

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