KARACHI: If all dead-rubber fixtures are taken into consideration this was probably one of those forgettable encounters where the only thing at stake was pride as Lahore Qalandars and Multan Sultans battled it out for one final time in the HBL Pakistan Super League this year.

The end result of this penultimate preliminary-round fixture at the National Stadium saw these two eliminated teams swap places in the final standings after both finished with identical record — just three wins in 10 games. But Sohaib Malik’s Sultans signed off on a high by cruising to a seven-wicket victory midway through the 14th over and equalling their head-to-head record against the Qalandars at 2-2 in the two editions.

At the halfway point the ground was more than adequately filled despite being an inconsequential afternoon game. By that time, the Qalandars had posted 140-8, a total that was never going to challenge the Sultans.

When asked which one factor could help the Qalandars overcome their bottom-placed finish in each of the four editions, team manager Sameen Rana remarked: “Prayers. We need them now much more than before. But on a serious note, [franchise owner] Rana Fawad offers his profound apologies to the ardent Qalandars supports for this performance.”

Mohammad Abbas warmed up for the upcoming one-day series against Australia in the UAE with a penetrative spell that fetched the Pakistan seamer the wickets of Sohail Akhtar (5), Saad Ali (8) and David Wiese (30) for 22 runs in four overs — a performance that was enough for him to earn the man-of-the-match award.

Fakhar Zaman, the Qalandars captain, finished the tournament just the way he started it — with a half-century, which was also his third and second against the Sultans in this PSL. The Pakistan left-hander banged eight boundaries and one six in a 36-ball 53 despite being not at his fluent best.

The evergreen Shahid Afridi, who made it clear during the post-match media conference that he would still be around at the next PSL as well, dismissed Haris Sohail (7) and Fakhar in successive overs, the latter to top-edging a high catch to Shan Masood just behind point in the 12th over. The former Pakistan captain matched his best figures in this tournament, 2-18 against Quetta Gladiators on his 39th birthday in Dubai, to extend his overall T20 haul to 333 victims from 303 appearances.

The departure of Fakhar was a crippling blow and although Wiese entertained the Karachi cricket diehards to a brace of sixes and as many fours, the Qalandars knew their objective of a 150-plus total was out of reach.

The Sultans’ chase was a virtual cakewalk. James Vince set the tone with a typically feisty 25 off 14 balls. The Englishman shared a second-wicket frenetic stand of 50 in 18 balls with Shan after Umar Siddique was run out by a direct throw from Fakhar.

Shan crunched eight boundaries and one six in an uncharacteristic innings of 48 from 25 balls as he and Johnson Charles added 53 in 25 deliveries for the third wicket. The West Indies discard was severe on young Nepalese leggie Sandeep Lamichhane spanking him twice for successive sixes in the ninth over.

At that point, it seemed the Sultans would get the job done in less than a dozen overs but they were not to be denied when Afridi, poignantly enough, hit the winning run.

The Qalandars now head back to launch another soul-searching examination after finishing at the bottom for the fourth year running.

Scoreboard

LAHORE QALANDARS:

Fakhar Zaman c Shan b Afridi 53 M.H. Wessels b Green 4 Sohail Akhtar c Christian b Abbas 5 Haris Sohail c Christian b Afridi 7 Saad Ali b Abbas 8 D. Wiese c Vince b Abbas 30 D.A.S. Gunaratne lbw b Ilyas 12 Hassaan Khan not out 6 Shaheen Shah Afridi run out 3 Haris Rauf not out 6 EXTRAS (LB-6) 6 TOTAL (for eight wkts, 20 overs) 140 FALL OF WKTS: 1-27, 2-39, 3-59, 4-78, 5-94, 6-124, 7-127, 8-134. DID NOT BAT: S. Lamichhane. BOWLING: Mohammad Abbas 4-0-22-3; Mohammad Ilyas 4-0-33-1; Green 4-0-25-1; Junaid Khan 4-0-36-0; Shahid Afridi 4-0-18-2.

MULTAN SULTANS: Umar Siddique run out 13 J.M. Vince c Fakhar b Afridi 25 Shan Masood c sub b Wiese 48 J. Charles not out 41 Shahid Afridi not out 3 EXTRAS (B-4, LB-5, W-1, NB-1) 11 TOTAL (for three wkts, 12.3 overs) 141 FALL OF WKTS: 1-20, 2-70, 3-123. DID NOT BAT: Shoaib Malik, D.T. Christian, C. Green, Mohammad Ilyas, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Abbas BOWLING: Shaheen Shah Afridi 2-0-25-1 (1w); Haris Rauf 3-0-29-0; Hassaan Khan 2-0-27-0 Lamichhane 2.3-0-28-1; Wise 2-0-15-1 (1nb); Gunaratne 1-0-8-0.
RESULT: Multan Sultans won by seven wickets. UMPIRES: M.A. Gough (England) and Rashid Riaz (Pakistan). TV UMPIRE: Shozab Raza (Pakistan). MATCH REFEREE: Mohammad Javed (Pakistan). MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Mohammad Abbas.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2019