Sohail, Rossouw power Multan to six-wicket win

MULTAN: Shan Masood’s men gave the home fans a night to remember on the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2020’s debut in Multan as a rip-roaring bowling performance and Rilee Rossouw’s unbeaten 49 set up a six-wicket win against Peshawar Zalmi here at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.

Mohammad Irfan had Tom Banton dropped at slip by James Vince on the first ball of the match, but it was just about the only misstep on the night by Multan in the field.

Banton fell five balls later driving Irfan to Shahid Afridi at extra cover and the Multan pacers continued to rip through the Peshawar line-up, aided by Man of the Match Sohail Tanvir’s four-wicket haul, to eventually bowl out the visitors for just 123 in 18.3 overs.

In a deja vu moment, Darren Sammy dropped the first ball of the Multan chase at slip when James Vince edged a drive off Hasan Ali, only for the bowler to have Vince caught at mid-on by the end of the over.

Whereas Peshawar were 41-4 at one stage, Multan slipped to a near-identical 47-4 in the seventh over when Zeeshan Ashraf cut Wahab Riaz to Banton at backward point.

But that was where the similarities between the two innings ended as Rossouw got Multan back on track before he was slowed down with a hip injury after getting pinged by Wahab to end the 12th over.

Rossouw was then dropped in the 14th on 46 by Livingstone at deep cover off Mohammad Amir Khan. Khushdil Shah enthralled their home fans by smashing a no-ball by Amir Khan through mid-off for four before clubbing a slower ball on the free hit 20 yards over the long-on rope for six to end the 14th.

Earlier, Sohail got the big wickets beginning with Kamran Akmal. Coming off a century in his last match, Kamran was looking ominous early once again with three fours. But hubris got the best of Kamran, who charged at Sohail only to miscue a full ball to Vince at midwicket for 15 in the fourth over.

The left-arm quick struck again in the 11th, having Haider caught at deep midwicket. After the spinners worked through the rest of the middle order, Sohail came back to claim tail-enders Hasan Ali and Rahat Ali.

Multan Sultans won toss

Peshawar Zalmi

T Banton c Shahid Afridi b Irfan 4

Kamran Akmal † c Vince b Tanvir 15

Haider Ali c Rossouw b Tanvir 47

Shoaib Malik c †Zeeshan b Ilyas 2

LS Livingstone c †Zeeshan b Ilyas 0

LA Dawson c †Zeeshan b Afridi 22

Wahab Riaz c Vince b Imran Tahir 9

*DJG Sammy c Vince b Irfan 2

Hasan Ali c Mohammad Ilyas b Tanvir 8

Mohammad Amir Khan not out 7

Rahat Ali c Shahid Afridi b Tanvir 1

Extras (lb 2, w 4) 6

Total (all out, 18.3 overs) 123

Fall: 1-4 , 2-35 , 3-41 , 4-41 , 5-85, 6-102 , 7-102 , 8-108, 9-113 , 10-123

Bowling: Mohammad Irfan 4-0-31-2, Mohammad Ilyas3-0-23-2, Sohail Tanvir3.3-1-13-4, Shahid Afridi 4-0-31- 1, Imran Tahir 4-0-23-1

Multan Sultans

JM Vince c Amir Khan b Hasan Ali 5

MM Alic Dawson b Rahat Ali 2

*Shan Masood c †Kamran b Wahab 8

RR Rossouw not out 49

Zeeshan Ashraf † c Banton b Wahab 12

Khushdil Shah not out 43

Extras (lb 1, nb 1, w 3) 5

Total (4 wickets, 14.5 overs) 124

Yet to bat: Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Ilyas, Imran Tahir, Mohammad Irfan

Fall: 1-6 , 2-10), 3-31, 4-47

Bowling: Hasan Ali 3-0-22-1, Rahat Ali 4-0-20-1,Wahab Riaz 3.5-0-36-2 , Shoaib Malik 2-0-10-0, Mohammad Amir Khan 2-0-35-0

Result: Multan Sultans won by 6 wickets

Man of the match: Sohail Tanvir (Multan Sultans)

Umpires: Asif Yaqoob (Pakistan), Faisal Afridi (Pakistan). TV Umpire: Shozab Raza (Pakistan). Match Referee: Javed Malik (Pakistan)