RAWALPINDI: Usman Khan struck the fastest century of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) before Abbas Afridi’s five-wicket haul powered nervy Multan Sultans to edge Quetta Gladiators and put their playoff expedition to rest.
The Gladiators had a mountain to climb to stay alive in the tournament as the former champions needed to pull off the highest-ever run chase but eventually fell just nine runs short as they could accumulate 253/8 in 20 overs.
Mohammad Nawaz-led Gladiators were off to an unwanted start to pursuit as the side lost their last match hero Jason Roy (6) in just the second over with only 14 runs on the scoreboard.
Following an early setback, Martin Guptill and Omair Bin Yousuf kept the Gladiators in the hunt as they stitched a crucial 46-run partnership for the second wicket and almost kept up with the required run rate.
The pair looked to have settled down before Ihsanullah provided a much-needed breakthrough to Sultans as he removed Guptill, who scored a quick 14-ball 37 including two boundaries and four sixes.
The Gladiators were then jolted with another blow as Abbas removed Mohammad Hafeez (1) in the sixth over.
With the side struggling at 68/3 inside the powerplay, Iftikhar Ahmed joined young Omair in the middle and anchored the run chase with a 104-run partnership for the fourth wicket with scoring quick half-centuries.
Iftikhar, however, failed to stretch his knock as he fell to Abbas briefly after raising his bat, while Omair followed him in the next over, resulting in the Gladiators slipping to 178/5 in the 16th over.
Iftikhar struck 53 in 31 balls with the help of four boundaries and as many sixes, while Omair top-scored for the Gladiators with a 36-ball 67, featuring seven boundaries and three sixes.
Gladiators’ skipper Nawaz and wicketkeeper batter Umar Akmal kept their side in the hunt with a brisk 30-run partnership before Abbas struck twice in two deliveries to dismiss Nawaz (16 off seven) and Umaid Asif (0) and scripted Sultans’ comeback in the run chase.
Despite six wickets down, the Gladiators were still in the race at the back of Akmal’s cameo who was turning it on for his side with belligerent but Abbas struck on the first delivery of his next over to cut his fireworks short and completed his maiden PSL hat-trick.
Akmal smashed a 10-ball 28, hitting two boundaries and three sixes.
Following Akmal’s dismissal tailenders Naveen-ul-Haq and Qais Ahmed struck a seven-ball 17 each at the death but their cameos eventually turned out insufficient for the Gladiators to prevail.
Abbas led the bowling attack for the Sultans with 5/47 while Ihsanullah followed with two wickets. Anwar Ali, on the other hand, made one scalp.
Put into bat first, the Sultans made full use of the ideal batting conditions on offer at the Pindi Cricket Stadium here and accumulated 262/3 – the highest total in PSL – at the back of a scintillating century by Usman.
The new opening pair of Sultans – Usman and Mohammad Rizwan – charged the Gladiators’ bowlers right from the start as the pair took their side to 91/0 after the end of the first powerplay with Usman leading the baton charge.
The right-handed young batter was ruthless against his former franchise so much so that he overshadowed Rizwan, who was scoring at around 200 striker rate.
Usman kept on dominating the bowlers and struck the fastest century of PSL in 36 balls, breaking his teammate Rilee Rossouw’s record, who achieved the milestone in 41 deliveries.
His belligerent hitting soon took the Sultans past 150 at the halfway mark and thus, they were looking comfortable to become the first side to breach the 300-run mark in T20s.
Gladiators’ stand-in captain Mohammad Nawaz, finally found the breakthrough for his side as he got the dangerous Usman stumped on the first delivery of the 11th over.
Usman remained the top-scorer for the Sultans as he scored a quickfire 120 in mere 43 deliveries, laced up with 12 boundaries and nine sixes.
Following his dismissal, Sultans’ captain Rizwan looked to maintain their dominance over Gladiators and stitched a brief 30-run partnership with Rossouw, who perished cheaply for a nine-ball 15.
Rizwan then switched gears and led the attack from the front and soon brought up his half-century amid his third-wicket partnership with Tim David before Qais Ahmed got rid of him in the 15th over.
He scored a brisk 55 off 29 balls, smashing six boundaries and two sixes.
Kieron Pollard and David then made sure the Sultans did not lose their towards a massive total as the pair stitched an unbeaten 58-run stand at the backend.
David remained unbeaten with a 25-ball 43 which featured one boundary and four sixes, while Pollard scored 23 off 14.
For the Gladiators, Qais picked up two wickets while Nawaz could bag one.
