Credit: X
Multan Sultans started their PSL 2024 campaign with a dominant 55-run win over the Karachi Kings at the Multan Cricket Stadium in Multan. The Sultans were put into bat by Karachi, who justified their decision by dismissing the Multan captain Mohammad Rizwan cheaply. The Pakistan keeper struggled from the word go and only managed to score 11 in 12 balls with two fours before being given LBW against Mir Hamza.
After Rizwan's dismissal, Dawid Malan and Reeza Hendricks got the Sultans back on track as they took the attack to the Karachi bowling. The duo went on to post a massive 121-run stand before the Englishman departed after scoring 52 in 41 balls with four boundaries and one maximum. As Malan got out, Khushdil Shah carried Multan's momentum forward with a 13-ball 28.
On the other end, the South African star gradually accelerated to score 79 in 54 balls with seven fours and three sixes to help the Sultans post 185 runs. After a stunning batting effort, Multan brought the same fire with the ball and reduced Karachi to 10-2 in 2.2 overs. The Kings managed a short recovery as captain Shan Masood and Shoaib Malik put up 52 runs but the Sultans struck again.
Masood was dismissed by Usama Mir at a score of 30 in 31 balls to kick-start another collapse. Soon Malik got out after his 53 after which Karachi lost four wickets while scoring just 14 runs. This letdown by the lower order allowed Multan to tighten the screws and register a convincing 55-run victory.
The way we executed was best: Mohammad Rizwan
Talking about this performance, Mohammad Rizwan credited his entire team and said, "We felt this was a good total. And our coach Abdur Rehman saab who is good at pitch reading told us it was a good total, sometimes I get it wrong. 180 was a very good total. We spoke to Malan who said we could go higher but credit to their bowlers. We have Pakistan's best power-hitters in Khushdil and Iftikhar but they bowled well."
"Credit to our bowlers and everyone chipped in. We don't have big names in our lineup but the way we executed was best. The plan is to get the boys together and I always think positive, Dahani got hit initially but came back well."
