Lahore Qalandars end Multan Sultans winning streak

The dream run of Multan Sultans in the seventh edition of Pakistan Super League Friday came to an end when they were thoroughly outclassed by Lahore Qalandars at the Gaddafi Stadium Lahore.

Qalandars returned to their home ground with a bang by inflicting a huge 52-run defeat on the till-now undefeated Multan Sultans.

Chasing a target of 183 runs, Sultan never looked into the game after the early departure of their star batsman and top-scorer Shan Masood who was deceived by a slow off-cutter from Shaheen Shah Afridi and failed to connect the ball cleanly only to be ended in the hands of Kamran Ghulam.

Like the yesternight match against Zalmi, Sultans captain and ICC Twenty20 cricketer of the year Muhammad Rizwan looked off-colour and seemed struggling at a tricky Gaddafi Stadium pitch that needed a lot of patience from the batsman before offering scores. He could make only 20 off 27 balls before being clean bowled by Rashid Khan.

Sohaib Maqsood top scored with 29 off 26 balls while Tim David made 24 and Khushdil Shah 22. Zaman Khan took three wickets while Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Rashid Khan all took two wickets apiece to register a convincing victory as Sultans were bowled out for 130 runs in 19.3 overs.

Earlier, Lahore Qalandars handed a 183-run target to unbeaten Multan Sultans in the 17th match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2022.

Multan Sultans won the toss and invited Lahore Qalandars to bat first. The start of Qalandars innings was not promising as Anwar Ali removed opener Abdullah Shafiq in the very first over.

However, the top run-getter of this season Fakhar Zaman continued his golden run and along with Kamran Ghulam added 86 runs for the second wicket. The Qalandars felt it tough to get runs freely in the earlier part of the innings but started showing their muscles soon.

Kamran Ghulam scored 42 runs before his departure off 38 balls including six boundaries. Fakhar completed his another half-century in the event off just 31 balls. He was next to go after scoring 60 runs off 37 balls that included two sixes and five boundaries.

Veteran all-rounder Muhammad Hafeez also started his innings slowly but paced up the things in the latter part of the innings. His partnership with Phil Salt helped Qalandars post an imposing total on the board. Hafeez made 43 runs off 29 balls that included three sixes and a four.

Salt remained unbeaten for his 26 runs off 13 balls. He hit a six and two fours. Qalandars finished their innings at 182-4.

For Sultans, Anwar Ali (1-11), Shahnawaz Dahani (1-31), Abbas Afridi (1-33) and Ijmran Tahir (1-30) were among wickets. Previous match bowling heroes for Sultans, Blessing Muzzarbani (0-48) and Khushdil Shah (0-27 in 3 overs) proved expensive.

Multan Sultans have already qualified for the playoffs while the victory promoted Qalandars to the second spot on points table with eight points

Both the Qalandars and Sultans remained unchanged. Sultans captain Muhammad Rizwan yesterday hinted at trying the bench strength in the remaining matches but have decided against it.

Lahore Qalandars Playing XI: Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hafeez, Philip Salt (wk), Harry Brook, David Wiese, Rashid Khan, Shaheen Afridi (c), Haris Rauf, Zaman Khan

Multan Sultans Playing XI: Shan Masood, Mohammad Rizwan (c)(wk), Sohaib Maqsood, Rilee Rossouw, Tim David, Khushdil Shah, Anwar Ali, Abbas Afridi, Imran Tahir, Blessing Muzarabani, Shahnawaz Dahani