Vice-captain Shan Masood’s steady innings in the middle, followed by a late onslaught from Arafat Minhas, powered Multan Sultans to a strong total against Islamabad United in the high-stakes 40th match of PSL 11 at the National Bank Stadium on Sunday.
Put into bat first by United captain Shadab Khan, the 2021 champions racked up 192/6 in their 20 overs.
The Sultans got off to a spirited start to their innings as their in-form opening pair of Steve Smith and Sahibzada Farhan yielded 60 runs before Salman Mirza gave the United a much-needed breakthrough on the final delivery of the powerplay by getting the former caught behind.
Farhan followed suit on the next delivery, falling victim to Shadab, resulting in the Sultans slipping to 60/2 in 6.1 overs.
Both Sultans openers contributed with 30 each and hit four fours and a six, but Farhan conceded one delivery less, 18, than Smith.
Following the back-to-back setbacks, vice-captain Shan Masood took the reins of the Sultans’ batting charge and put together a one-sided 42-run partnership for the third wicket with Josh Philippe, who made a cautious 11 off 13 deliveries before being dismissed by Imad Wasim in the 12th over.
Masood then shared brief partnerships with captain Ashton Turner (nine) and Arafat Minhas until eventually being cleaned up by Salman Irshad in the 16th over.
The left-handed batter remained the top-scorer for the Sultans with a brisk 44 off 33 deliveries, laced with three fours and two sixes.
All-rounder Faheem Ashraf inflicted another blow on the Sultans’ batting expedition in the next over by getting Mohammad Imran caught at short third-man.
With the scoreboard reading 136/6 in 16.3 overs, Arafat switched gears and bolstered the Sultans’ total with a blistering 31-run cameo at the backend, coming off just 19 deliveries and peppered with four boundaries, including three sixes.
He was supported by No.8 batter Mohammad Wasim Jr, who made a handy 26 not out from just nine deliveries as the duo added 55 runs to the total off the remaining 21 deliveries.
For United, Chris Green, Mirza, Irshad, Imad, Faheem and captain Shadab picked up one wicket apiece.
Playing XIs
Islamabad United: Devon Conway (wk), Sameer Minhas, Mohsin Riaz, Shadab Khan (c), Mark Chapman, Haider Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Chris Green, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Hasnain and Salman Irshad.
Multan Sultans: Sahibzada Farhan, Steve Smith, Ashton Turner (c), Shan Masood, Josh Philippe (wk), Arafat Minhas, Mohammad Imran Randhawa, Peter Siddle, Mohammad Waseem Jnr, Muhammad Ismail and Faisal Akram.
