Rilee Rossouw was the star of the day as Multan Sultans defeated Quetta Gladiators by 30 runs to maintain their position at the top of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2020 rankings on Saturday.

The Gladiators, who were chasing a respectable target of 200 runs set for them by the Sultans at the Multan Cricket Stadium, managed to bag 169 runs at the loss of seven wickets in their allotted 20 overs.

They lost despite a splendid 41-ball 80 by Shane Watson. He was helped by Jasoy Roy, who chipped in 30 runs from 27 balls.

Earlier, Multan Sultans had won the toss and chose to bat first.

They were 132-3 at the end of 15 overs but finished with an impressive score of 199-5 at the end of their innings, thanks to a magnificent 44-ball century by player of the match Rossouw.

Comprising 10 fours and six sixes, Rossouw's is the fastest-ever ton in the PSL, according to ESPNCricinfo.

James Vince and Zeeshan Ashraf opened the match for Sultans. The pair scored 23 runs in their partnership before Ashraf was caught at midwicket by Mohammad Nawaz on Naseem Shah’s ball.

James Vince gathered runs aplenty for the Sultans, hitting multiple fours before he was caught out by Azam Khan on Nawaz’s ball.

He was replaced by MM Ali who could only score 6 runs before he was bowled out.

Gladiators Captain Sarfaraz Ahmed in pre-match comments said that he would have chosen to field first had they won the toss. He also revealed two changes in the player lineup; Ahsan Ali came in for Ahmed Shahzad and Anwar Ali replaced Tymal Mills.

Meanwhile, James Vince came in for Ravi Bopara from the Multan side.

Multan Sultans are at the top of the points table, having lost only one of their matches in PSL 2020 so far while the Gladiators come in at a close second, having won three of their five match fixtures of the tournament so far.

The second PSL match of Saturday, between Islamabad United and Peshawar Zalmi, was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain in Rawalpindi. Both teams were awarded one point each.

Teams

Multan Sultans: Shan Masood (c), RR Rossouw, MM Ali, RS Bopara, Shahid Afridi, Imran Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Ilyas, Mohammad Irfan, Zeeshan Ashraf, Sohail Tanvir

Quetta Gladiators: Sarfaraz Ahmed (c), Shane Watson, Abdul Nasir, Ahsan Ali, Arish Ali Khan, Azam Khan, Ben Cutting, Fawad Ahmed, Khurram Manzoor, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Keemo Paul, Jason Roy, Sohail Khan, Umar Akmal