DUBAI: It has just two appearances for Multan Sultans to make an instant impact in their debut HBL Pakistan Super League season as they annihilated Lahore Qalandars by an emphatic margin to follow an equally impressive win against holders Peshawar Zalmi.

Riding on the success of that seven-wicket defeat of the reigning champions on the first night of the tournament, Multan returned to continue their dominance to brush aside Lahore by 43 runs, while proving even at such an early phase of the event the debutants mean real business.

An elated Shoaib Malik showered praise on his team’s clinical performance at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

“We are just trying our best. We got 179 because the great platform set by Sanga [Kumar Sangakkara] and [Ahmed Shehzad] upfront,” The Multan skipper said at the post-match presentation. “Obviously, if you don’t lose early wickets there are always a good chance of taking full advantage of those first six overs. And even if you end up scoring 45-50 runs, with two set batsmen there, it’s a struggle for the bowling side.

“I though Sanga played an exceptional innings [63 off 44 balls with five fours and three sixes]. Our plan is to just give yourself some time. You can hit a boundary an over and still get 10 runs through singles and twos later. And with experience, it’s possible to do that.”

Malik singled out Junaid Khan, who took a hat-trick, and Lahore-born South African leggie Imran Tahir, as the pair rose to the occasion during the phase when Lahore lost their last seven wickets for just seven runs

“Junaid is a very good bowler and I knew when I asked him to come and bowl, he said I’ll do it, and I must mention Imran s well. He came up to me, in a crucial situation, said give me the ball and he took those wickets for us. Our goal was to fight till the last ball, even when it seemed like they would win.”

Meanwhile, a dejected Lahore skipper Brendon McCullum conceded the collapse at the end made it easy for Multan.

“We were in the game right up until the last ball of Pollard’s over. We lost by 40 runs, but it was a lot closer than that,” McCullum remarked. “I thought Fakhar and Umar played really well to set us up. But once Umar got out — I thought it was the right risk to take against Pollard, their sixth bowler. It took a great bit of fielding to dismiss Fakhar Zaman and change the state of the game. We’ll be better for the run, we’ve got good batting, good bowling, but we’ll cop this on the chin and we’ll learn from this”

Imran, the man-of-the-match, observed his double-wicket over changed the game.

“Very pleased with how I bowled my last two overs. It’s a bit different than what I expected. I thought the pitches would turn. It is going to be challenging, bowling at Pakistan domestic players, they play spin really well. I’m just glad I made a strong comeback,” Imran said. “I always believe that I don’t play for myself, I play for the team and that’s why I try to do well. Grateful to the captain for throwing the ball at me after my first two overs [which were poor]”

Lahore’s capitulation of epic proportions was surreal after Fakhar Zaman had taken them to 132-3. But he was dismissed to a spectacular catch from Shehzad, running forward and diving to pick the ball up just as it died on him, and then the innings slumped.

The last five wickets fell for only one runs to put Multan on top of the leaderboard.

Scoreboard

MULTAN SULTANS:

K.C. Sangakkara c Fakhar b Mustafizur 63
Ahmed Shehzad c Umar b Mustafizur 38
Sohaib Maqsood b Yasir 4
Shoaib Malik run out 48
K.A. Pollard run out 0
D.M. Bravo not out 9
Sohail Tanvir not out 1

EXTRAS (B-9, W-7) 16

TOTAL (for five wkts, 20 overs) 179

FALL OF WKTS: 1-88, 2-93, 3-147, 4-158, 5-178.

DID NOT BAT: Saif Badar, Junaid Khan, Imran Tahir, Mohammad Irfan.

BOWLING: Raza Hasan 3-0-28-0; Aamir Yamin 2-0-26-0; Shaheen Shah Afridi 3-0-35-0 (2w); Narine 4-0-32-0 (1w); Mustafizur Rahman 4-0-22-2; Yasir Shah 4-0-27-1.

LAHORE QALANDARS:

Fakhar Zaman c Shehzad b Pollard 49
S.P. Narine c Junaid b Irfan 26
B.B. McCullum c Sohail b Irfan 0
Umar Akmal c Bravo b Pollard 31
Sohail Akhtar b Imran 21
C.S. Delport c Shehzad b Junaid 3
Aamir Yamin b Imran 1
Yasir Shah c Sangakkara b Junaid 0
Shaheen Shah Afridi c Malik b Imran 0
Mustafizur Rahman not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-4) 5

TOTAL (all out, 17.2 overs) 136

FALL OF WKTS: 1-32, 2-40, 3-105, 4-132, 5-133, 6-135, 7-136, 8-136, 9-136.

BOWLING: Sohail Tanvir 3-0-26-0 (2w); Mohammad Irfan 4-0-19-2; Junaid Khan 3-0-24-3; Imran Tahir 3.2-0-27-3 (1w); Pollard 3-0-28-2 (1w).

RESULT: Multan Sultans won by 43 runs.

UMPIRES: Asif Yaqoob (Pakistan) and R.T. Robinson (England).

TV UMPIRE: Shozab Raza (Pakistan).

MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Mahanama (Sri Lanka).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Imran Tahir.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2018