Multan Sultans defeated Peshawar Zalmi in the final to win the Pakistan Super League (PSL) for the first time on Thursday at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
Zalmi, who was chasing a goal of 207 at the time, got off to a flying start with Kamran Akmal’s 36.
Zalmi’s batsmen had to put forth a tremendous effort to chase down the record-breaking goal.
Hazraullah Zazai, the opposite opener, was looking to hitch the party when he hit Blessing Muzarabani for a six from the primary ball of the sixth over. However, within the very next ball, Zazai was removed by the Zimbabweans to offer the Sultans their first wicket.
Imran Khan then bowled a wicket-taking maiden sixth over to place Zalmi further struggling. The bowler within the over removed the damaging Akmal from the very first delivery.
Then Rilee Rossouw, who had started with the bat for Multan, removed Jonathan Wells with a run-out during the 10th over to tilt the ultimate within the Sultans’ favour.
In the 11th over, Imran Khan removed Shoaib Malik but the choice was overturned after replays showed that the pacer had overstepped.
The mistake proved to be too costly for the Sultans as Malik then made the side buy their mistake.
West Indian Rovman Powell was giving good company to Malik but he was removed by Muzarabani during the 15th over.
All the while the Sultans knew that Malik was key for them if they wanted to get their hands on their first PSL trophy.
And it had been the experienced Sohail Tanvir who removed the veteran all-rounder from the primary ball of the 16th over. But Malik had taken his side far enough to form Zalmi dream of victory at that time. They needed 70 runs from the last 29 balls at the time.
After Malik’s dismissal, Sherfane Rutherford decided to charge at the Multan bowlers.
Once again, it had been experiencing that basically counted within the situation.
Imran Tahir, during the 17th over, removed the damaging Rutherford, Wahab Riaz, and Mohammad Imran to finish the small hope that Zalmi had of clinching their second PSL title.
In the next over, Imran Khan took Zalmi’s ninth wicket to require his side closer to the finishing line.
Getting 56 runs within the last 16 balls proved an excessive amount for the last two Zalmi batsmen.
The Sultans triumphed over Zalmi by 48 runs to win their first PSL title.
