PSL V: Multan Sultans defeat Peshawar Zalmi by six wickets

Published February 26, 2020
Multan Sultans's Shahid Afridi (R) celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Peshawar Zalmi's Liam Dawson (L) during the Pakistan Super League (PSL) Twenty20 cricket match at the Multan Cricket Stadium in Multan on February 26. — AFP
Multan Sultans's Shahid Afridi (R) celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Peshawar Zalmi's Liam Dawson (L) during the Pakistan Super League (PSL) Twenty20 cricket match at the Multan Cricket Stadium in Multan on February 26. — AFP
A win for either team in today's match will take them atop the fledgling PSL standings. — Photo courtesy @PCB
A win for either team in today's match will take them atop the fledgling PSL standings. — Photo courtesy @PCB
Multan Sultan captain Shan Masood and Peshawar Zalmi captain Darren Sammy at the Multan Stadium. — Peshawar Zalmi Twitter
Multan Sultan captain Shan Masood and Peshawar Zalmi captain Darren Sammy at the Multan Stadium. — Peshawar Zalmi Twitter

Multan Sultans on Wednesday beat Peshawar Zalmi by six wickets in the first-ever Pakistan Super League (PSL) match hosted by the city of saints.

The Sultans, who earlier restricted Zalmi to 123, emerged victorious with a score of 124-4 with 31 balls remaining.

Rilee Rossouw (49 off 42) and Khushdil Shah (43 off 29) put up a strong partnership to complete the win for the Sultans.

Earlier, Zalmi managed to set a target of only 124 after losing early wickets.

Though Haider Ali looked in impressive form, making 47 runs off 27 balls, he couldn't find a steady partner in the batting lineup as wickets kept falling at the other end.

With the Zalmis failing to build momentum at any stage in the innings, the 2017 PSL winners were all out for 123, with nine balls to spare.

Tom Banton was an early casualty after a superb catch by Shahid Afridi in the middle of the first over, scoring only four runs from five balls.

Zalmi's golden boy Kamran Akmal was also sent back to the pavilion in the third over after being caught out by James Vince off Sohail Tanveer.

Shoaib Malik and Liam Livingstone were sent packing at the start of the fifth over by excellent bowling from Mohammad Ilyas.

Tanvir returned to dismiss Haider Ali, caught by Rilee Rossouw in the 11th over, and Hasan Ali, caught by Ilyas in the 17th over.

Earlier, the Sultans had won the toss and invited Zalmi to bat first as the PSL resumed after a two-day break at Multan Stadium.

Multan opened the fifth PSL season with a victory against the Qalandars but suffered an eight-wicket thrashing from United in their second game.

Zalmi came into the game on the back of a morale-boosting six-wicket triumph over the Gladiators after losing their opener to the Kings. Kamran Akmal has been their standout performer so far, scoring a century against the Gladiators to help his side grab their first points of the season.

Teams:

MULTAN SULTANS: Shan Masood (captain), James Vince, Moeen Ali, Rilee Rossouw, Zeeshan Ashraf, Khushdil Shah, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Irfan, Imran Tahir, Sohail Tanvir, Ilyas Khan, Bilawal Bhatti, Ravi Bopara, Usman Qadir, Rohail Nazir.

PESHAWAR ZALMI: Darren Sammy (captain), Kamran Akmal, Haider Ali, Shoaib Malik, Tom Banton, Wahab Riaz, Liam Livingstone, Hasan Ali, Amir Khan, Mohammad Mohsin, Rahat Ali, Liam Dawson., Umar Amin, Imam-ul-Haq.

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