SHARJAH: It was supposed to be an intense battle here on Tuesday night when Multan Sultans confronted Islamabad United in the HBL Pakistan Super League at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium with the former desperate to win and make the playoffs.

But even Kieron Pollard’s highest-ever PSL innings failed to save the newest — and the most expensive — franchise from being outclassed by Islamabad for the second time in this tournament after an inexplicable collapse left them in tatters at 20-4 in a tough 186-run chase.

The West Indian stroke-maker, though, infused belated excitement into the game — after Islamabad had almost buried Multan into submission — as the powerful right-hander thrashed six enormous sixes and five boundaries on his way to 73 from 47 deliveries before holing to Alex Hales on the boundary. Pollard also surpassed a personal milestone, reaching 8,000 T20 runs in 413 appearances on 27, but Multan needed collective contributions but got none.

As it stands currently, Multan — who have completed their league matches with latest defeat their fourth in succession — are now hoping against hope to realise their dream of progressing to the playoffs in their maiden season.

At this point in time, Multan will be nervously rooting for the men in blues on Thursday when Karachi Kings meet defending champions Peshawar Zalmi, the yellow shirts who must win both their remaining fixtures — the last one being versus the already-eliminated Lahore Qalandars — to make the cut.

For Islamabad it was another splendid all-round team effort that secured sixth win in eight fixtures as Samit Patel extolled after his side emerged clinical winners by 33 runs.

“The feeling in the camp is pretty good because we are playing consistently good cricket at the moment after messing it up in the few couple of early games. The boys know their roles and everyone is chipping in at the right time,” Patel, who put Multan on the back foot with the wickets of Sangakkara and Saif Badar on successive deliveries, told the post-match media conference.

“On the other hand, one does get panicky when Kieron Pollard is firing on all cylinders. But we know how to deal with the situation and we did in the end. Amad [Butt] will learn from the experience of bowling at Pollard after taking some pasting.”

Commenting on his double strikes upfront, Patel said: I have this policy of bowling straight and if they miss, I hit. So I try to bowl as straight as possible. And being a batsman myself, I know how to vary the length to the opposing batters. I was pleased to get Kumar because he is someone who controls the innings if you get him out early.”

The England all-rounder singled out Hussain Talat and Asif Ali for special praise. “There are a good number of players I have seen in this PSL who could be an asset for Pakistan cricket in the coming times. I think Hussain and Asif are very talented guys. It is good to see there is lot of talent in Pakistan.”

Meanwhile, among bizarre events Islamabad’s innings ended after 117 minutes of play and even if 18 minutes were ate up by allowances, still the red shirts occupied the crease for 99 minutes, which is 14 minutes more than the stipulated 85-minute prescribed in the standard playing conditions.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2018