KARACHI: Shan Masood (88) batted brilliantly while Imran Tahir, Khushdil Shah and David Willey took three wickets each to help Multan Sultans win over Quetta Gladiators by six runs in their third round match of the HBL PSL 2022 Of. Monday night at the National Stadium.
This was the third consecutive win for Multan Sultans and they have six points at the top. And the result changed the trend as well as the teams batting second in the last six games were successful. Shaan's Super Knock piled up 174-4 after Multan were invited to bat first. Imran Tahir (3-24), Khushdil Shah (3-16) and Willie (3-22) then dismissed Quetta for 168 with a ball to spare. Chasing 175, Quetta needed 23 runs in 12 balls. Shahnawaz Dahani conceded 15 runs in the final over by hitting a six and a four off Sohail Tanvir. In the same over, James Faulkner (18) was also run out after hitting a six in 12 balls. Quetta needed eight runs from David Willey's last over. Willie bowls two dot balls to Naseem Shah. He took a single off the third ball before falling to Sohail Tanvir (13) and fell into the deep off the fourth ball off Riley Rossouw. On the fifth ball, Naseem Shah (1) was caught brilliantly by Tim David in the deep. The Singapore player sensibly threw the ball back before it even touched the boundary of his foot. And then he ran to complete the catch. And that is the end of the showpiece in favor of the Multan Sultans.
Defending 175, Khushdil Shah provided Multan an early breakthrough when he brilliantly dismissed English batsman Will Sameed (3) off his own delivery in the third over of the innings. Smed faced five balls. In his next over, Khushdil added to Quetta's troubles by bowling Ahsan Ali (24). Ahsan hit three fours and a six in David Willey's 19-ball knock. Quetta were 29-2 in the fifth over. Ben Duckett and Sarfaraz Ahmed produced the innings. South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir dismissed Duckett (47) and Ashir Qureshi (0) off his two successive deliveries to tilt the pendulum towards Multan with more than ten runs needed per over in the last eight overs. Duckett wanted to reverse sweep and Ashir went lbw. Duckett hit six fours and a six in 32 balls. English Test cricketer Duckett added 68 runs for the third wicket with Sarfaraz. Quetta were 97-4 in the 13th over. In the next over, Khushdil made Sarfaraz 21 runs in 23 balls with the help of two fours and was caught in the hands of Tim David in the deep. In the next over, Imran Tahir gave the catch to Mohammad Nawaz (1) and bowled. However, a super firework from Iftikhar kept Quetta's hopes alive. After Imran Khan Sr.'s poor 17th over, in which he conceded 24, Iftikhar hit three sixes and a four, David Willey dismissed Iftikhar for 30 off 13 balls, hitting three sixes and a four.
Invited to bat first, Shan Masood did a fine job scoring a Super 88 off 58 balls, his second successive half-century to take Multan Sultans to a fighting total in the end. After losing Mohammad Rizwan (0) in the second over of the innings, Shaan took charge when Hasnain dismissed him to Ben Duckett at mid-on. He played another scintillating innings, his fifth fifty in his PSL career. It was also his PSL career-best score, beating his previous best of 83 on his previous show against Lahore Qalandars on the second day. Shaan hit six fours and four sixes. Shaan, who completed his half-century in 38 balls, hit off-spinner Iftikhar Ahmed (0-32) for two sixes in the 16th over of the innings, scoring 17 runs. He also hit a six each to Sohail Tanveer and Mohammad Nawaz. Shaan added 50 off 40 balls for the second wicket with Soheb Maqsood, who smashed 21 off 23 balls, which included two fours and a six off Australian pacer James Faulkner. It was Faulkner, who dismissed Sohaib, who wanted to hit him at mid-wicket but could not clear the boundary and Will Sameed took a well-judged catch in the deep. Multan were at 62-2 when Sohaib fell in the ninth over.
Shan, who was placed in the deep by Iftikhar off Mohammad Hasnain in the final over of the innings, then put on a 42-ball 46 for the third wicket and partnered with Riley Rossouw, who scored 19 runs, back for second. Got run out on arrival. Ball 21 with two fours. Shan then added 42 off 19 balls for the fourth wicket with Tim David, who remained unbeaten on 28 off 16 balls, hitting Naseem Shah for two straight sixes, apart from a well-deserved boundary. Khushdil Shah, who came to the crease after Shan's fall, remained unbeaten on eight runs in five balls. The left-handed batsman hit a 94m six on Naseem which went into the stands. David-Chupdil took the fifth wicket as an unbroken partnership of 24 runs in just ten balls. Hasnain was the bowlers' choice with 2-27 in his quota of four overs. James Faulkner scored 1-22 runs in four overs. Naseem Shah, who took five wickets in his last match, was expensive, conceding 42 runs in four overs