In the qualifiers of the eighth edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL8), Multan Sultans qualified for the finals by defeating the defending champions Lahore Qalandars by 84 runs after a one-sided match thanks to the excellent performance of Kieran Pollard and the bowlers.
Multan Sultans captain Muhammad Rizwan won the toss and decided to bat first in the qualifier of the PSL8 played at Gaddafi Stadium.
Openers Mohammad Rizwan and Usman Khan once again gave Multan Sultans a good start, but like the previous match, they could not take a more aggressive approach this time. Both players shared a partnership of 53 runs for the first wicket, after which A slow ball by Haris Rauf scattered the wickets of Usman Khan.
Riley Russo’s call did not work this time and he gave away the wicket of Zaman Khan after scoring only 13 runs.
Captain Muhammad Rizwan had reached the score of 90 runs along with Kieron Pollard when Rashid Khan made a full stop in front of the Sultans captain’s 33 runs to give his team the third wicket.
After the fall of three wickets, Tim David came to support Pollard and the two made a partnership of 65 runs for the fourth wicket, Played a major role in getting his team to a decent total.
When Multan reached the total of 155, Haris Rauf took the wicket of Pollard and then Khushdil Shah on two consecutive balls to cause a big loss to Sultans.
Multan Sultans scored 160 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in the allotted overs, and Tim David scored 22 off 15 balls. Haris Rauf was the most successful bowler taking three wickets on behalf of Lahore Qalandars.
Lahore Qalandars started the innings in a disastrous manner and Sheldon Cottrell bowled well and took three wickets early on.
In the third over of the innings, Cottrell made Tahir Baig and Abdullah Shafiq his victims, while from the other end, Anwar Ali bowled Fakhar Zaman and gave his team a major victory.
Seeing the team in trouble, captain Shaheen Shah Afridi once again came in to bat at the top of the order but Cottrell struck Qalandars with another blow and got them going without opening the account. I left and continued while the resistance of Sam Billings also ended on 19 runs. Usama Mir, after stumping Rashid Khan with the help of Rizwan, also handed over the pavilion visa to David Wiese, while Abbas, who took the most wickets in the tournament, Afridi added another wicket to his account and ended Qalandar’s innings on 76 runs.
Multan Sultans defeated defending champions Lahore Qalandars by 84 runs to qualify for the final.
Lahore Qalandars have one more chance to qualify for the finals of PSL8 and will face the winner of the match between Peshawar Zalmi and Islamabad Zalmi in the second eliminator.
