Mohammad Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed shone with the bat as Multan Sultans defeated Lahore Qalandars by five wickets to register their third consecutive win in the tournament on Wednesday.

Thanks to Iftikhar Ahmed’s 11-ball 34 down the order, Multan hunted down the 167-run target with five wickets and 6 balls to spare, registering the highest run-chase in Multan this season.

Batting first, Lahore Qalandars lost in-form Sahibzada Farhan (2) early in the innings. However, Rassie van der Dussen’s 37-ball 57 and Fakhar Zaman’s 41 from 36 balls, helped them recover.

Jahandad Khan (16) and Carlos Brathwaite (16*) also played small cameos to take the total to 166/5.

For Multan, Mohammad Ali was once again the pick of the bowlers for his figures of 2 for 28. He has taken eight wickets in three games for Multan. Usama Mir (1 for 25) was also very handy with the ball.

In pursuit of a sizeable chase, Lahore gained early control with two quick wickets of Dawid Malan (0) and Reeza Hendricks (9) in the powerplay.

Skipper Rizwan (82 off 59) built a 38-run partnership for the third wicket with Yasir Khan (8 off 13) and added another 75 runs for the fourth wicket with David Willey (25 off 23) to bring his side back in the game.

Shaheen made a crucial breakthrough in the 18th over as he removed Willey with a toe-crushing yorker, but that was too little too late.

Requiring 21 off the last two overs, Iftikhar swung into action and scored 24 from the penultimate over by Zaman Khan, handing the defending champions their third straight defeat this season.

PSL 2024 day 4 round-up: Mohammad Ali, Reeza Hendricks seal second win for Multan Sultans

Pollard keeps Peshawar winless

In the first match of the day, Karachi Kings defeated Peshawar Zalmi by seven wickets at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium.

After putting Peshawar into bat, Karachi kept things in control with Shoaib Malik removing Saim Ayub on the first ball of the match. Mir Hamza and Hasan Ali also struck in the powerplay, leaving Peshawar 3 down for 42 runs in the first 6 overs.

Babar Azam (72 off 51) made small partnerships with Rovman Powell (39 off 25) and Asif Ali (23 from 16), but that wasn’t enough as his side was bundled out for 154 runs in the 19.5 overs.

Karachi’s pursuit of a relatively easy target was dented by two early wickets of captain Shan Masood (12) and Muhammad Akhlaq (24).

However, James Vince (38), and Shoaib Malik’s run-a-ball 29 steadied the ship before Keiron Pollard’s unbeaten 21-ball 49 finished off the game in the 17th over.

Luke Wood was the most successful bowler for Zalmi with two wickets for 20 runs in 3.5 overs.

Points Table Update

The third consecutive win has further cemented Multan Sultans’ place at the top of the table with eight points, while Quetta Gladiators still perch second with two wins and four points. Islamabad United and Karachi Kings remain third and fourth on the points table with two points each, while Lahore Qalandars and Peshawar Zalmi are in 5th and 6th place with no wins.

Next Fixtures

Fans will witness an exciting contest between Islamabad United and Quetta Gladiators on Thursday. The game will be played at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore at 7 pm.

Past PSL Winners

PSL 2016 – Islamabad United

PSL 2017 – Peshawar Zalmi

PSL 2018 – Islamabad United

PSL 2019 – Quetta Gladiators

PSL 2020 – Karachi Kings

PSL 2021 – Multan Sultans

PSL 2022 - Lahore Qalandars

PSL 2023 - Lahore Qalandars