KARACHI: The defending champions Multan Sultans on Monday registered the third consecutive victory in the 7th edition of Pakistan Super League (PSL), defeating Quetta Gladiators by six runs at National Stadium Karachi.

Chasing a total of 175 runs, the entire team of Quetta Gladiators lost its battle at 168 runs in 19.5 overs.

David Willey successfully defended 8 runs in the last over and played an important role in the match by guiding three players to the pavilion. Shan Masood played an excellent inning of 88 runs.

When Quetta Gladiators started chasing the target, both openers Ehsan Ali (24) and Will Smeed (3) returned to the pavilion with a total score of just 29. Both of them were dismissed by Khushdal Shah.

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Batting responsibly with captain Sarfraz Ahmed, the English cricketer Ben Duckett tried to resist the defending champions by setting up a partnership of 68 runs. Later, after his dismissal at 47, Gladiators started struggling and three more players were dismissed in a row and returned to the pavilion. Captain Sarfraz Ahmed 21, Asher Qureshi Safdar and Muhammad Nawaz were out for one run. When Quetta Gladiators needed 50 runs in the last four overs to win, Iftikhar Ahmad smashed two sixes and two fours in Imran Junior’s over to turn the match in Quetta’s favour but he was also dismissed for 30 off 13 balls. Later, James Faulkner and Sohail Tanveer also failed to lead their team to victory stand and were dismissed for 18 and 13 runs respectively. Khushdal Shah and David Willey took three wickets each.

Earlier, Multan Sultans batted first on the invitation of Quetta Gladiators and scored 174 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in the 20 overs with Shaun Masood’s half-century.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022