The third edition of the Pakistan Super League kicked off earlier tonight in Dubai, after a star studded opening ceremony that included a performance from global superstar Jason Derulo. The Multan Sultans, led by Shoaib Malik, won the toss and they elected to field first, as teams wouldn’t have known what would’ve been a good first innings score.
With some good powerplay bowling, the Sultans kept the scoring down in the early overs and Peshawar Zalmi ended poorly after 6 overs with 29/2. Hafeez and Dwayne Smith tried to do some rebuilding but the latter perished trying to take on South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir. Hafeez had a slow start but ultimately played the anchor role, scoring 59 in 52 balls.
However, the fireworks from Sammy at the death is what helped Peshawar get to a competitive score of 151/6 in 20 overs, as the captain powered his way to 29 in just 11 balls. 2/19 from Mohammad Irfan was the best bowling figures from the Sultans and the chase was expected to be a tricky one.
Zalmi would’ve fancied their chances in this opening game after having picked up the important wicket of Ahmed Shehzad, who departed without scoring. However, some clean hitting from Sohaib Maqsood and the calm and composed veteran Kumar Sangakkara made sure the Sultans were always ahead of the game. However, 19-year old spin twins came into the attack and the flow of runs was stopped immediately.
Maqsood had to depart with 21(16), bringing together the vastly experienced pair of Sangakkara and Shoaib Malik. Sangakkara had a brilliant time in Hong Kong, finishing as the Player of the Series in the recent Hong Kong Sixes and he kept up the good form here, with 57(52), setting up the foundation for a Multan Sultans win.
Some shoddy fielding towards the end made the chase easy for Multan at the end, needing just 15 off the last 2 overs, with Pollard and Malik out at the crease. The captain Malik finished it off by hitting a maximum and Multan Sultans registered a 7-wicket win in their first ever PSL game!
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