MULTAN: At a muted Multan Cricket Stadium, it was a game reflective of the dismal campaign the home side has had. The Multan Sultans couldn’t muster any strength to stave away Peshawar Zalmi; overran by Babar Azam’s side who hauled themselves firmly into Pakistan Super League playoffs contention with a clinical seven-wicket victory on Monday night.

With their fourth win of the season, Zalmi moved to eight points, just one behind Lahore Qalandars who occupy the fourth spot in the table, with a game in hand. For the Sultans, it was the fifth defeat in a row.

On this showing, Mohammad Rizwan’s men — winners in 2021 and finalists in each of the last four seasons — look unlikely to get even a consolation win in their final match of the season against the Quetta Gladiators on Sunday.

With their disciplined bowling, Zalmi strangled the Sultans and shot them down for a paltry 108 — pacer Ahmed Daniyal (3-17) and spinner Maaz Sadaqat (2-12) ripping through the opposition batting.

As Saim Ayub finally found some form and big hits — smashing three sixes and four fours in a 33-ball 49, it became a question of how long Zalmi will take to chase down the total. Max Bryant hit a six and five fours in a 20-ball 38 not out to finish things off with a full seven overs to spare.

Already out of playoffs contention, there was only pride on the line for the Sultans, aiming to thwart Zalmi’s ambitions with just a second win in their penultimate game of the season.

Having chosen to bat, they made a tentative start before Rizwan broke free in the second over, striking consecutive boundaries off Alzarri Joseph.

His opening partner Yasir Khan also got two fours in the third over by Luke Wood but departed soon after, top-edging Saim to short fine.

Rizwan (17) swept Saim for his third boundary but fell in the sixth over when he found Ahmed at backward square off Wood; Sultans ending the powerplay at 40-2.

Tayyab Tahir flickered briefly in his 18-ball 22, hitting two fours and a massive six — off Saim — before mistiming Ahmed to Mitchell Owen at deep square leg.

And Zalmi were well and truly on top when spinner Maaz cleaned up Ashton Turner for a duck to leave the Sultans at 62-4 at the midway point of their innings.

Maaz would then disturb the timber once again to send back Mohammad Amir Barki; the Sultans having slumped from 60-2 to 65-5.

It would get worse with Ali Raza having Shahid Aziz caught behind; the Sultans having seen four wickets fall for the addition of just six runs.

An indication of how Zalmi had tightened the noose came in the 14th over when Shai Hope, who had arrived after Rizwan’s dismissal, slammed Maaz stright down the ground for a four for the Sultans’ first boundary after 28 balls.

Hope then launched Joseph over long off for six but his West Indies compatriot soon exacted revenge by dismissing him for a 21-ball 23 four balls later with the Sultans at 87-7 with five overs to go.

Five runs later, Ahmed’s change of pace brought the end of David Willey’s painstaking 16-ball eight and he then took a return catch to get his third wicket, dismissing Ubaid Shah with Wood (2-18) ending Sultans’ misery by sending back Mohammad Hasnain (11) with the first ball of the last over.

Saim got the chase off and running with a boundary on the second ball he faced although Willey had his opening partner Owen caught on the fifth ball of the first over.

Babar got an inside edge that ran away for four early on, and even though he never got going, Saim — dropped at seven — was getting the runs from the other end.

Ubaid Shah it was on the wrong end of Saim’s return to form; the teenager flicking him away for a six in the third over and then pulling and cutting him away for two more off consecutive deliveries to start the sixth. He followed those with a four and then got another off Hasnain in the sixth over as Zalmi ended the poweplay by almost halving their target at 54-1.

Babar, who made eight off 13, was cleaned up by Shahid soon after and Saim followed in the ninth over, having all but made sure of Zalmi’s victory.

SCOREBOARD

MULTAN SULTANS:

Yasir Khan c Ali b Saim 10

Mohammad Rizwan c Ahmed b Wood 17

Tayyab Tahir c Owen b Ahmed 22

Shai Hope c & b Joseph 23

Ashton Turner b Maaz 0

Muhammad Amir b Maaz 3

Shahid Aziz c Haris b Ali 1

David Willey b Ahmed 8

Ubaid Shah c&b Ahmed 3

Mohammad Hasnain c Ahmed b Wood 11

Faisal Akram not out 4

EXTRAS (LB-1, NB-1, W-4) 6

TOTAL (all out, 19.1 overs) 108

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-20 (Yasir), 2-34 (Rizwan), 3-60 (Tayyab), 4-61 (Turner), 5-65 (Amir), 6-66 (Shahid), 7-86 (Hope), 8-92 (Willey), 9-104 (Ubaid)

BOWLING: Wood 3.1-0-18-2 (1w), Joseph 3-0-29-1 (1w), Saim 2-0-16-1, Ali 4-0-15-1 (1w, 1nb), Ahmed 4-0-17-3, Maaz 3-0-12-2 (1w)

PESHAWAR ZALMI:

Mitchell Owen c Amir b Willey 1

Saim Ayub c Amir b Shahid 49

Babar Azam b Shahid 8

Max Bryant not out 38

Mohammad Haris not out 7

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-6) 7

TOTAL (for three wickets, 13 overs) 110

DID NOT BAT: Maaz Sadaqat, Luke Wood, Alzarri Joseph, Ali Raza, Ahmed Daniyal, Hussain Talat

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-8 (Owen), 2-57 (Babar), 3-70 (Saim)

BOWLING: Willey 1-0-9-1, Hasnain 3-0-16-0, Ubaid 3-0-43-0 (1w), Shahid 3-0-17-2 (2w), Faisal 3-0-24-0

RESULT: Peshawar Zalmi won by seven wickets.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Ahmed Daniyal

CURRENT STANDING

Tabulated under (Teams, matches, wins, losses, points, net run-rate)

Gladiators 8 5 2 11 0.906 United 8 5 3 10 0.650

Kings 8 5 3 10 0.479

Qalandars 9 4 4 9 0.912

Zalmi 8 4 4 8 -0.082

Sultans 9 1 8 2 -2.708

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2025