MULTAN: It all came down to who maintained composure in a game where momentum flowed from one team to the other. Finally, the Multan Sultans defeated Islamabad United in the process.
At the Multan Cricket Stadium on Tuesday, the Sultans emerged victorious by five wickets despite the fact that both sides were tied until the very last ball of play.
Multan chased down a 145-run target, and despite Reeza Hendricks’ half century and captain Mohammad Rizwan’s vital knock at the top of the order keeping their hopes alive till the very end, Iftikhar Ahmed’s 18-run cameo sent Multan over the finish line.
In the middle of the eighteenth over, Iftikhar was trying to put bat to ball, playing at eight off twelve balls, when he witnessed Hendricks get bowled by Tymal Mills at the other end.
Multan needed 13 runs in the final two overs when Iftikhar, sensing his duty as a senior player at that time, smashed the left-armer for a six over deep midwicket.
Islamabad had a slight lead when Naseem Shah had Khushdil Shah caught out two balls later, but David Willey, the last man, destroyed their hopes with a four-ball drive that went through the off-side.
That proved to be the final boundary of the game, as Multan only needed four runs from Mills’ final over to win. Iftikhar scrambled for a last-gasp single to give the home team its second victory in two games, but all of those came off singles.
Both Hendricks and Rizwan must be regretting lost catches; Hendricks was given fresh life at number twelve, while Imad Wasim spilled the former off Naseem on the first ball of the innings.
Hendricks hit 58 off 46, while Rizwan took advantage of the opportunity to add 44 off 33 before being trapped leg before wicket by a Shadab Khan flipper.
Rizwan was meeting the ball when it entered his zone on a challenging surface, punishing mishandled deliveries on the leg-side and pulling as well as flicking Ubaid Shah and Faheem Ashraf for sixes.
Despite dropping opening partnership Dawid Malan to a Naseem ripper, the Pakistani wicket-keeper’s exploits saw Multan reach 44-1 by the end of the powerplay.
The right-hander swept the bowler for third and fourth boundaries in the ninth over, then played an inside-out stroke over the covers off Imad’s left-arm spin.
After medium pacer Tymal Mills was smashed for two boundaries by Hendricks, who had been bowling a little slower by then, Multan reached 77-1 at the midway mark before Rizwan succumbed.
Yasir Khan was dismissed in a match when fielding standards had been subpar thanks to a remarkable performance by Jordan Cox and Alex Hales on the wide long-on boundary for Islamabad.
As he cleared the boundary’s skirting, Cox threw the ball into the air so that Hales could safely collect it, sprinting in from deep midwicket to reach beneath it and retain it.
Multan was searching for one big over, but the equation remained balanced. And that happened on the 17th when Shadab entered the bowl. Seizing the chance, Hendricks struck the bowler for six over deep midwicket, then proceeded to sweep and pull for two more boundaries, reaching his second half century in a row.
The attack left the Sultans requiring 21 off 18 balls, but when Hendricks was dismissed four balls in, Iftikhar took the field after Mills was edged to Faheem Ashraf at deep third man.
Brilliant bowling performances by pacers Abbas Afridi and Mohammad Ali, who both ripped through the United line-up and earned three wickets each, reduced Islamabad to what turned out to be a manageable score.
Ali concluded with an even higher score of 3-19, while Abbas recorded scores of 3-33.
Both got rolling right away as Multan tightened things up with the new ball while Islamabad struggled to capitalize on the powerplay. Hales and Colin Munro, the openers, left the game early due to the pressure. Muhammad Ali’s speed rattled Munro’s stumps as Hales skied Willey high off his top edge to be caught in the circle.
Only 32 could be mustered by Islamabad in the first six overs. Had Khushdil held onto a straightforward catch to dismiss Cox off Abbas, things may have gotten worse for them. Khushdil gave Salman Ali Agha a second chance at life by dropping yet another sitter.
The Pakistani batsman hit a four, and Cox followed suit in the next over, as United reached the halfway point with 67-2.
When Cox smashed pacer Olly Stone for a massive six six sixes six balls later, leg-spinner Usama Mir trapped him leg-before-bowling for 41. Cox looked threatening.
Two overs later, Usama struck once more to remove Azam Khan from the game after he had hit a four and a six. He played Abbas onto his stumps, and Imad followed.
Salman maintained the flow of the Islamabad scoreboard despite the commotion at the other end. He crossed the fifty-run mark with two fours off Abbas and a fine six off Usama, but the pacer had already castled skipper Shadab, making him the second victim of the last over for the former.
In the last over, Ali claimed two more wickets to end United’s innings.
SOURCE: DAWN NEWS
