LAHORE                  -               Multan Sultans registered their second consecutive home victory in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2020 after toppling Karachi Kings by a comfortable 52-run margin at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Friday.

A fine bowling performance led by spinners Imran Tahir and Shahid Afridi, who shared five wickets between them, set the tone of Multan Sultans’ comfortable triumph after their batsmen had set what proved to be a match-winning 186 for six first innings score. Sohail Tanvir, who bowled brilliantly and recorded a four-wicket haul in Sultans’ win over Peshawar Zalmi on Wednesday, once again played key role in his team’s triumph as he claimed two wickets for 20 runs. Alex Hales with 29 and Umaid Asif 20 were the only batsmen to offer some resistance in what was a less than inspiring batting performance by the Kings.

Batting first after being asked to bat at the toss, Multan Sultans posted a formidable 186 for six total in their allotted 20 overs courtesy half-centuries by opener and man-of-the-match Moeen Ali and captain Shan Masood. The two added 71 runs for the second-wicket partnership after Zeeshan Ashraf, who gathered 23 runs off 13 balls, had provided the hosts a flying start in a 31-run opening stand with Moeen Ali, who fired four fours and as many sixes in his 65-run swashbuckling knock that came off 42 balls; he was the second wicket to fall. Shan also faced 42 balls scoring 61 runs with the help of seven fours and one six.  Khushdil Shah also contributed significant 10 runs as he was the only other batsman to reach the double figures as Sultans innings was built on the contributions by Moeen and Shan. Pacers Mohammad Amir and Chris Jordan claimed two wickets each for Kings. Amir conceded 27 runs and Jordan conceding 29 respectively in their four over spells. Moeen Ali emerged as player of the match for his brilliant all-round performance.

Scorecard

MULTAN SULTANS:
MM Ali c Delport b Umaid 65
Zeeshan Ashraf c Babar b Iftikhar 23
Shan Masood b Jordan 61
RR Rossouw c Babar b M Amir 8
RS Bopara c Umaid b M Amir 9
Khushdil Shah c Walton b Jordan 10
Shahid Afridi not out 1
Sohail Tanvir not out 2
EXTRAS: (lb5, nb1, w1) 7
TOTAL: (6 wkts, 20 overs) 186
FOW: 1-31, 2-102, 3-140, 4-164, 5-175, 6-184.
BOWLING: M Amir 4-0-27-2; Umaid 4-0-34-1; Iftikhar 3-0-42-1; Jordan 4-0-29-2; Imad 1-0-12-0; Delport 4-0-37-0.
KARACHI KINGS:
Sharjeel Khan lbw b Ali 16
Babar Azam c M Ilyas b M Irfan 13
AD Hales c Shan b Shahid 29
CS Delport c Ali b Imran 8
CAK Walton c Khushdil b Imran 15
Imad Wasim c Zeeshan b Shahid 5
Iftikhar Ahmed c Khushdil b M Ilyas 14
CJ Jordan lbw b Imran 7
Umaid Asif c Bopara b Sohail 20
Umer Khan not out 3
M Amir b Sohail 2
EXTRAS: (w2) 2
TOTAL: (all out, 17 overs) 134
FOW: 1-19, 2-45, 3-66, 4-68, 5-75, 6-87, 7-106, 8-120, 9-131, 10-134.
BOWLING: M Irfan 4-0-24-1; Ali 2-0-25-1; Sohail 3-0-20-2; M Ilyas 2-0-19-1; Shahid 3-0-18-2; Imran 3-0-28-3.
TOSS: Karachi Kings
UMPIRES: Shozab Raza, Faisal Afridi
TV UMPIRE: Asif Yaqoob

Points Table

Team M W L T P NRR
Multan Sultans 4 3 1 0 6 1.074
Quetta Gladiators 4 3 1 0 6 0.172
Islamabad United 4 2 2 0 4 0.145
Karachi Kings 3 1 2 0 2 -0.437
Peshawar Zalmi 3 1 2 0 2 -0.643
Lahore Qalandars 2 0 2 0 0 -1.028