Sultans upstage United again for second win

DUBAI: Man-of-the-match Daniel Christian (left) celebrates after taking a wicket.—Courtesy PCB

DUBAI: For the second time in this edition of HBL Pakistan Super League, Multan Sultans had the wood on Islamabad United when they consigned the defending champions to a six-wicket drubbing at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday night.

The start of the second phase of the preliminary round couldn’t have produced a better result for Shoaib Malik’s struggling side, which had just one victory in five first-round games. The solitary win came on Feb 16 when they defeated United by five wickets.

Malik’s decision to field was vindicated by a sustained bowling effort from his bowlers. At no stage did United look like posting a total that they could defend.

The highest partnership in their abject total of 121 was 29 between Sahibzada Farhan and Luke Ronchi following the dismissal of opener Cameron Delport.

The champions had hoped for Ronchi to fire on all cylinders, but the former international wasted a belligerent start to his stay at the crease during which he thumped six boundaries and one six.

Daniel Christian, a former Australian all-rounder, not only got rid of Asif but also polished off the tail, claiming three wickets for 19 runs.

Islamabad United needed to strike from the start.

But James Vince and Umar Siddique were in no mood to give it away, sharing a first-wicket partnership of 54 after surviving a couple of close chances.

Vince perished for an entertaining 28 from 17 balls with five boundaries, including two gorgeous off-side drives off Muhammad Musa, while Umar continued his good form by scoring a breezy 46 off 45 balls featuring five fours and one pulled six off Musa.

It was then left to Malik (23) and man-of-the-match Christian (16) to lift Sultans from bottom to the fourth place in standings and lift their playoff aspirations.

Scoreboard

ISLAMABAD UNITED:

L. Ronchi c Malik b Ilyas 32

C.S. Delport c Vince b Ilyas 4

S. Farhan st Umar b Nauman 4

S.R. Patel c Vince b Afridi 20

Hussain Talat b Afridi 8

W.D. Parnell c and b Irfan 5

Asif Ali c Umar b Christian 22

Shadab Khan b Nauman 4

Faheem Ashraf not out 16

R. Raees Khan lbw b Christian 0

M. Musa c Afridi b Christian 2

EXTRAS: (LB-2, W-2) 4

TOTAL: (all out, 17.4 overs) 121

FALL OF WKTS: 1-5, 2-34, 3-42, 4-62, 5-75, 6-76, 7-96, 8-104, 9-104.

BOWLING: Mohammad Ilyas 3-0-21-2; Mohammad Irfan 4-0-17-1; Nauman Ali 2-0-14-1 (1w); Junaid Khan 3-0-11-0 (1w); Shahid Afridi 4-0-37-2; Christian 1.4-0-19-3.

MULTAN SULTANS:

U. Siddique c Musa b Rumman 46

J.M. Vince c Parnell b Patel 28

J. Charles lbw b Shadab 4

Shoaib Malik not out 23

L.J. Evans b Musa 1

D.T. Christian not out 16

EXTRAS: (LB-1, W-2, NB-1) 4

TOTAL: (for 4 wkts, 18.1 overs) 122

FALL OF WKTS: 1-54, 2-59, 3-99, 4-101.

BOWLING: Faheem Ashraf 3.1-0-19-0; Mohammad Musa Khan 4-0-43-0 (1w); Rumman Raees Khan 3-0-19-1 (1nb); Patel 4-0-24-1 (1w); Shadab Khan 4-0-16-1.

RESULT: Multan Sultans won by six wickets.