Multan Sultans defeated Quetta Gladiators by 117 runs in the 25th match of the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2022 at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Friday.
Sultans won the toss and decided to bat first before managing to score the second-highest total of the league — 245 for the loss of three wickets.
Openers Mohammad Rizwan and Shan Masood laid a strong foundation for their team. Sultans’ first wicket fell when Masood was given an lbw after a DRS review.
The left-handed opener scored 57 runs while his partner Rizwan remained not out and scored an unbeaten 54-ball 83 to set a big target.
After Shan’s dismissal, Rilee Rossouw took charge and scored a blistering 26-ball 71 to steer the Sultans to a 246-run target.
In response, Sarfaraz Ahmed-led Gladiators 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, having got barely halfway to their target.
Teams:
Quetta Gladiators: Jason Roy, Ahsan Ali, Will Smeed, Sarfaraz Ahmed (captain), Iftikhar Ahmed, Umar Akmal, Noor Ahmad, Sohail Tanvir, Naseem Shah, Ghulam Mudassar, Mohammad Irfan.
Multan Sultans: Mohammad Rizwan (captain), Shan Masood, Rilee Rossouw Tim David, Khushdil Shah, Aamer Azmat, Asif Afridi, Rumman Raees, Imran Tahir, Shahnawaz Dahani, David Willey.
