[CRK]

Multan Sultans Survive Abbas and Hasan’s Onslaught to Clinch High-Scoring Game

Multan Sultans 207 for 7 (Masood 46, Phillipe 44, Khushdil 3-35, Moeen 2-30) beat Karachi Kings 196 (Hendricks 49, Abbas 34, Minhas 3-32, Siddle 2-32) by 11 runs.

Match Summary

Multan Sultans survived late onslaughts from Karachi Kings’ Abbas Afridi (34 off 16 balls) and Hasan Ali (23 off 10) to prevail in a high-scoring contest. Sultans eventually won by 11 runs in the last over on a hot sunny Sunday afternoon in Karachi.

The win consolidated their chances for playoff qualification as they climbed up one position on the points table, and are now No. 2 with 10 points. Kings stay at seven after suffering their fourth consecutive defeat.

Turning Points

Sultans may have heaved a sigh of relief after their captain Ashton Turner had his opposite number Moeen Ali caught at long-off at the start of the 15th over. Kings, who had half their line-up back in the pavilion, needed 79 off 35 deliveries at that stage.

But Abbas reignited the 208 chase with back-to-back slog sweeps of Momin Qamar’s left-arm wristspin in the next over. Abbas started the next over with two consecutive boundaries off Arafat Minhas.

Key Performances

Whirlwind knocks from Josh Philippe (44 in 23 deliveries) and Shan Masood (46 off 25) set Sultans up before an eight-ball 26 from Imran propelled them beyond 200. That included Imran taking 21 runs off the final over bowled by Hasan.

Masood seemed to have come out with the intention of targeting the spinners as all of his six boundaries had come against them. He smoked Adam Zampa for three boundaries in an over at the start of his innings, and smashed sixes off Moeen and Khushdil Shah later in the innings.

Conclusion

Sultans amassed 45 runs in the last three overs. The final over, which went for 21, resulted in Hasan finishing with the worst figures (1 for 51 from four overs) in the match.