KARACHI: In the 30th match of Pakistan Super League Season 9, Multan Sultans cruised to an impressive 79-run victory over Quetta Gladiators at the National Cricket Stadium, here on Tuesday. Despite a challenging target of 186 runs, the Gladiators struggled to maintain the momentum, losing wickets at regular intervals and eventually were bowled out for 106 runs in 15.5 overs.
Omair Yousaf top scored with 37 runs followed by Khawaja Nafay with 16 runs. Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Wasim Junior and skipper Rilee Rossouw contributed 14, 13 and 10 runs respectively, while no other batsman managed to reach double figures. The bowling prowess of David Willey and Usama Mir shone as they claimed three wickets each, supported by Abbas Afridi with two wickets and Mohammad Ali with one.
Moreover, Saud Shakeel ran out, adding to the Gladiators’ woes. Mohammad Rizwan’s stellar performance earned him the man of the match award. Asked to bat first, Multan Sultans faced an early setback when Yasir Khan was dismissed for 12 runs, leaving them at 16/1.
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However, captain Mohammad Rizwan’s impressive knock of 69 runs, coupled with Usman Khan’s contribution of 21 runs, steadied the innings with a 52-run partnership for the second wicket. Johnson Charles further boosted the Sultans’ position with a quickfire 53 runs supported by Mohammad Rizwan as they added 68 runs together.
Iftikhar Ahmed’s late 20-run success propelled the Sultans to a formidable total of 185/4 in their allotted 20 overs. Mohammad Amir took two wickets for Gladiators while Abrar Ahmed and Mohammad Wasim Junior took one wicket each.