Multan Sultans 207 for 7 (Masood 46, Phillipe 44, Khushdil 3-35, Moeen 2-30) beat Karachi Kings 196 (Hendricks 49, Abbas 34, Minhas 3-32, Siddle 2-32) by 11 runs
Sultans may have heaved a sigh of relief after their captain Ashton Turner had his opposite number Moeen Ali caught at long-off at the start of the 15th over. Kings, who had half their line-up back in the pavilion, needed 79 off 35 deliveries at that stage. But Abbas reignited the 208 chase with back-to-back monstrous slog sweeps of Momin Qamar’s left-arm wristspin in the next over.
The head curator at the National Stadium readied the pitch with Australian soil for Sunday’s double-header, and it turned out to be a belter. Sultans needed early breakthroughs to put their total beyond Kings’ reach, and Arafat’s dual strikes in consecutive overs during the powerplay played a crucial role in reining in the scoring rate. Arafat got Jason Roy caught in the deep and had Salman Ali Agha bowled, before Siddle bounced Saad Baig out in the sixth.
A 67-run stand between Moeen (27 off 23 balls) and Reeza Hendricks (49 off 32) denied Sultans further inroads for most part of the middle overs. But the pace of their run accumulation remained behind the required run rate. Kings needed to go beyond 13 an over when the partnership ended with Hendricks’ dismissal in the 13th over after he smashed two consecutive fours on the previous balls.
Whirlwind knocks from Josh Philippe (44 in 23 deliveries) and Shan Masood (46 off 25) set Sultans up before an eight-ball 26 from Imran propelled them beyond 200. That included Imran taking 21 runs off the final over bowled by Hasan. Sultans came into this match after an almost week-long break, and Philippe seemed fresh and ready to go when he strode out after Steven Smith’s wicket in the second over.
Phillippe plundered Abbas for two sixes and a four in the fifth over after Awais Zafar, making his PSL debut, had struck him for two fours at the start. That over cost Kings 25 runs, and Moeen never went back to Abbas after that.
Masood seemed to have come out with the intention of targeting the spinners as all of his six boundaries had come against them. He smoked Adam Zampa for three boundaries in an over at the start of his innings, and smashed sixes off Moeen and Khushdil Shah later in the innings. But as Sultans seemed to have gathered the momentum, Khushdil picked up a wicket to deflate it. He picked up a wicket each in first three overs (Smith in second, Philippe in eighth, and Awais in 13th).
Sultans amassed 45 runs in the last three overs. The final over, which went for 21, resulted in Hasan finishing with the worst figures (1 for 51 from four overs) in the match.
