LAHORE: Multan Sultans scorched their way to an eighth victory, racking up the second-highest total and the biggest winning margin in the history of the PSL, as Quetta Gladiators’ chances of progressing to the knockouts reduced.
Multan Sultans, which had already secured a place in next week’s qualifier, opted to flex their muscles by batting first. A century opening stand inside the first ten overs between Shan Masood and Mohammad Rizwan allowed Sultans to plunder a further 144 through the second half of the innings.
Rilee Rossouw bludgeoned a carefree 71 from just 26 balls as they narrowly failed to eclipse Islamabad United’s PSL high score of 247.
Requiring a record run chase, Quetta fired briefly through Jason Roy and Umar Akmal but were unable to sustain such a punishing asking rate while keeping wickets intact.
David Willey struck with his first delivery, a full inswinger that removed Will Smeed – who made 99 in his previous outing – for a duck, and then had Roy caught just beyond the cover ring for 38 from 19 as Gladiators reached 66 for 3 at the end of the powerplay.
Akmal kept coming, clearing the ropes six times on the way to a 22-ball fifty, but once he holed out off Imran Tahir, the Quetta chase fell away. Willey, Asif Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani and Khushdil Shah each picked up two wickets as Gladiators were dismissed inside 16 overs.
Playing XI:
Quetta Gladiators: Jason Roy, Ahsan Ali, Will Smeed, Sarfaraz Ahmed (c), Iftikhar Ahmed, Umar Akmal, Noor Ahmad, Sohail Tanvir, Naseem Shah, Ghulam Mudassar, Mohammad Irfan.
Multan Sultans: Mohammad Rizwan (c, wk), Shan Masood, Rilee Rossouw Tim David, Khushdil Shah, Aamer Azmat, Asif Afridi, Rumman Raees, Imran Tahir, Shahnawaz Dahani, David Willey
