In the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 9 qualifying round, Multan Sultans defeated Peshawar Zalmi because to another outstanding effort from Usama Mir and a convincing half-century from rookie Yasir Khan.
In the game played on Thursday at National Stadium Karachi, Zalmi won the toss and chose to bat first.
In the first, or semi-final, of the ninth edition of the competition, Babar Azam’s Zalmi team faced off against last year’s finalists, Sultans.
After opener Saim Ayub was removed by pacer David Willey in the opening over, the Zalmi innings appeared fragile.
The innings was established by captain Babar and Mohammad Haris before the wicketkeeper gave up his wicket as Zalmi scored 50 runs. Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Babar both scored 100 runs, and the score continued to climb in favor of the side. The Zalmi captain was then removed by Chris Jordan with a pinpoint yorker.
The Zalmi side’s boundaries dried up after Cademore was removed by Mir in the sixteenth over, having scored 24 runs. After hitting two fours in the 17th over, Jordan removed Rovman Powell from the game.
Zalmi’s total fell short of par at 146 as Jordan gave up three runs in the final over after Luke Wood had hammered Abbas Afridi for twelve runs in the 19th over.
Alongside captain Mohammad Rizwan, Yasir Khan began the Sultans’ innings by putting rising batsman Mehran Mumtaz over the boundary with the second ball of the opening over.
Ayub caught Rizwan at square after a 60-run opening stand between the two reduced the needed run rate to below 7.
Yasir reached his half-century on 30 balls, a landmark inning from the opening over, as he and Usman continued to trade blows. On 54, the newly formed Mehran Mumtaz sacked him.
After a couple of excellent overs from the Zalmi side when runs dried up for the Sultans, the match became somewhat intriguing when Salman Irshad yorked Johnson Charles, who had come to the crease after Yasir’s departure.
But the necessary run rate was raised to 4.66 by Iftikhar Ahmed’s three fours in the over. From then on, it was an easy chore as the Sultans advanced to the PSL 9 final with eight runs in the second-to-last over.
Usama Mir won the Player of the Match award for his outstanding two-for-16 bowling performance in his four overs.
The Zalmi team will now take against the victor of today’s first eliminator between Quetta Gladiators and Islamabad United.
