LAHORE: The defending champions Multan Sultans carried their astonishing form to beat Lahore Qalandars by 28 runs in the qualifier of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) season 7 and stormed into the final of the mega event.
Multan Sultans’ pacers Shahnawaz Dahani and David Willey triggered a match-defining collapse, causing the Qalandars to slip from 102-3 to 109-6 in the span of an over.
Qalandars’ lower-order then had no answers to the Sultans’ bowling attack and as a result, were restricted to 135-9 in the allotted 20 overs.
Qalandars’ in-form batter Fakhar Zaman and the top scorer also fell prey to the collapse and made his way back to the pavilion after Willey trapped him in legs for 63. The PSL 7 top-scorer faced only 45 deliveries in the course of his innings and smacked four sixes and two boundaries.
The rest of the Qalandars batters could not contribute significantly in the big match and only Kamran Ghulam followed back Fakhar with his 20.
For Sultans, Dahani bagged three wickets, while Willey claimed two. Rumman Raees, Asif Afridi, and Khushdil Shah, on the other hand, struck out a batter each.
After being put in to bat first, the Sultans finished at 163-2 in the allotted 20 overs, thanks to the fifties from Mohammad Rizwan and Rilee Rossouw.
Sultans, after starting off poorly; losing their in-form opener Shan Masood cheaply for two, bounced back and went on to post a commendable total in the PSL 7 qualifier.
With the side stranded at 3-1, Aamer Azmat joined Rizwan at the crease and recorded an important 47-runs partnership for the second wicket to anchor the innings. Azmat, who was looking solid could not keep going for long as Samit Patel got him stumped in the seventh over.
The young right-handed batter scored a quick 33 off 22 balls; smashing five boundaries. Following his departure, Rossouw and Rizwan then ran into an unbeaten 113-runs partnership.
The pair remained a touch too slow in the beginning, however, accelerated later in the innings. Rizwan scored 53 off 51 balls with the help of three boundaries, while Rossouw top-scored with 65 off 42 balls; smacking seven boundaries and a six.
For the Qalandars, Mohammad Hafeez and Patel made one scalp each.
