RAWALPINDI: Multan Sultans opener James Vince hits out as Islamabad United wicket-keeper Luke Ronchi looks on during their HBL PSL match at the Pindi Cricket Stadium on Sunday.—Tanveer Shahzad/White Star
RAWALPINDI: Multan Sultans opener James Vince hits out as Islamabad United wicket-keeper Luke Ronchi looks on during their HBL PSL match at the Pindi Cricket Stadium on Sunday.—Tanveer Shahzad/White Star

RAWALPINDI: It was quite evident the Rawalpindi leg of the HBL Pakistan Super League 2020 just couldn’t escape the unpredictability of the weather here as the eighth and last fixture at the Pindi Cricket Stadium also had its share of the wet spell on Sunday.

In a badly-abbreviated fixture of mere nine overs per side, the high-flying Multan Sultans assured themselves a playoff spot with a ruthless demolition job against the two-time former champions Islamabad United.

The chase for 92 seemed like a stroll in the park for James Vince, who crunched 11 boundaries — a majority of them timed so exquisitely with controlled precision — and one six, an unbeaten 61 off 24 balls. There was every reason for the England right-hander to bag the man-of-the-match award in his first major performance in the tournament.

In one of the most clinical T20 cricket finishes, Multan nonchalantly blew Islamabad away out of sight by cruising to their fifth victory — the latest by nine wickets with no less 14 deliveries left in the kitty — while consolidating their position at the top with 11 points from seven games.

After three inspections — at 2:00pm, the second an hour later and 3:30pm — of the heavily saturated outfield everyone, including a capacity holiday crowd of around 16,000, heaved a sigh of relief when it was announced the shootout between Islamabad United and Multan Sultans would be underway from 4:15 onwards.

The bone of contention in terms of players’ safety was a couple of damp patches in the outfield and needed considerable time to make them as much playable as humanly capable.

The forced curtailment in play inevitably made the customary spin of the coin even more critical, particularly from Islamabad United’s perception. And when Shan Masood got his call right, the look of anguish among Shadab Khan and company was extremely visible on their faces, and the subsequently the hopes of salvaging their pride — after three defeats in previous four fixtures in the garrison town — faded out without any trace.

First sent into to bat and then making a real mess of putting up sufficient runs on the board to allow an already struggling bowling line-up to defend the total seemed a distant dream as Islamabad United sunk to a miserable 91-7 in 51 minutes of batting time.

Colin Munro set off the innings in the most blazing fashion. The highlight of the New Zealand left-handed opener came at the start of the fourth over when hoisted the opening three deliveries from the veteran Shahid Afridi for sixes on his way to a 12-ball 25. Munro’s belligerent act carried Islamabad to 52-1 with five overs still to come.

FANS cheer during the match.—Online
FANS cheer during the match.—Online

Imran Tahir, born and bred in Lahore before moving to South Africa for whom he earned fame as a wily leg-spinner on the international stage, then ruined Islamabad innings. His animated celebrations are well documented but on Sunday he was guilty of overboard to the extent that Munro clearly disapproved of.

After forcing the opener to top edge down Sohail Tanvir’s throat just inside the circle at short fine leg, Imran sprinted in direction of the Islamabad dugout and on the way, with arms flying, he almost left enraged the departing Munro, who looked quite upset with the bowler.

“I say much to him but his mannerism certainly was quite annoying at the time,” Munro explained during the post-match media conference.

“Obviously, as an opposing player that sort of thing can upset anyone. What has gone is past now but he and I are not on talking terms. One shouldn’t get overboard because when we are on the field the respect element has to be followed.”

Imran replicated his celebratory sprinting dance in his second — and final — over as well when Shadab mistimed his drive to Moeen Ali who ran some distance to hold a smart catch at long off to finish with decent analysis of 2-13.

The other bowler to make Multan Sultans proud in the sunshine was Junaid Khan, who first took care of Luke Ronchi upfront for 18 to a contentious decision from TV umpire Rashid Riaz when the wicket-keeper/batsman sliced a catch to point towards Rille Rossouw in the third over. Despite TV replays indicating doubts over the low take, Ronchi’s innings was abruptly terminated.

Junaid, who claimed 2-17 from two overs, also got rid of Asif Ali — now sadly a shadow of the dasher he once was — who tamely chipped the ball back to the left-arm paceman. Asif was last hope of a 100-plus but his dismissal at the beginning of the eighth over completed Islamabad’s tale of woes as the final three overs yielded only 23 runs for the loss of four wickets.

After an outstanding job in the field, Multan Sultans were not going to relax in knocking off the runs as Vince and Zeeshan Ashraf added 68 in their rollicking 32-ball partnership before the left-handed Zeeshan was taken off his own bowling by Shadab for 16.

But it was to be Vince’s evening all through. The most memorable period of his sublime batting was provided in the very second over when upcoming left-arm seamer Akif Javed saw the first five deliveries all going to the fence. The pick of the shots in that magical sequence being a straight drive played with effortless ease.

Sohail Tanvir, the hometown boy, showered accolade on his team-mate by saying during his presser Vince was batting in a trance.

“It was sheer joy to see Vincey [James Vince] bat with so much authority on what was not an easy track because of the wet weather we had,” Sohail remarked. “He’s a class act and I’m we will him scoring heavily in the matches to come [in the PSL]. Overall, the whole group is celebrating our qualification for the playoffs.

“And being the first team to get there is a testimony of the hard work we have collectively undertaken. The game-plans set by the team management [head coach Andy Flower and Shan] have been executed brilliantly thus far.

“Winning here in front of my home crowd has made me quite emotional because I’m truly one of them and really enjoy playing here,” The Rawalpindi-born Sohail added.

Scoreboard

ISLAMABAD UNITED

Batsmen & mode of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR

L. Ronchi c Rossouw b Junaid 18 10 2 1 180.00

C. Munro c Sohail b Imran 25 12 1 3 208.33

Shadab Khan c Moeen b Imran 14 12 1 0 116.66

C.A. Ingram c Vince b Moeen 6 4 3 1 150.00

Asif Ali c and b Junaid 4 4 0 0 100.00

Rizwan Hussain run out 7 4 1 0 175.00

Amad Butt run out 8 8 0 1 100.00

Rumman Raees Khan not out 0 0 0 0 -

EXTRAS (lb-6, w-3) 9 - - - -

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 9 overs) 91 - - - -

FALL OF WKTS: 1-26 (Ronchi, 2.4 ov), 2-57 (Munro, 4.3 ov), 3-65 (Ingram, 5.4 ov), 4-70 (Shadab, 6.3 ov), 5-74 (Asif, 7.1 ov), 6-81 (Rizwan, 7.5 ov), 7-91 (Amad, 8.6 ov).

DID NOT BAT: D.W. Steyn, Mohammad Musa Khan, Akif Javed.

BOWLING: Sohail Tanvir 2-0-15-0 (2w); Mohammad Ilyas 1-0-11-0; Junaid Khan 2-0-17-2; Shahid 1-0-20-0; Afridi Imran Tahir 2-0-13-2 (1w); Moeen Ali 1-0-9-1.

MULTAN SULTANS

Batsmen & mode of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR

Zeeshan Ashraf c and b Shadab 16 12 3 0 133.33

J.M. Vince not out 61 24 11 1 254.16

Moeen Ali not out 14 5 3 0 280.00

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-1, NB-1) 3 - - - -

TOTAL (for one wkt, 6.4 overs) 94 - - - -

FALL OF WKT: 1-68 (Zeeshan, 6.1 ov),

DID NOT BAT: R.R. Rossouw, Shan Masood, Khushdil Shah, Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Ilyas, Imran Tahir.

BOWLING: Steyn 1-0-14-0; Akif Javed 1-0-21-0; Rumman Raees Khan 1-0-12-0 (1nb); Shadab Khan 2-0-30-0 (1w); Mohammad Musa Khan 1.4-0-16-0.

RESULT: Multan Sultans won by nine wickets.

UMPIRES: R.E.J. Martinesz (Sri Lanka) and Tariq Rasheed (Pakistan).

TV UMPIRE: Rashid Riaz (Pakistan).

MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Mahanama (Sri Lanka).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: James Vince (Multan Sultans).

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2020

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