Multan Sultans 180 for 5 (Maqsood 59, Khushdil 42*, Charles 41, Shadab 2-25) Islamabad United 149 (Khwaja 70, Tanveer 3-17, Mujrabani 3-31, Tahir 2-29) for 31 runs defeated by
Multan Sultans beat Islamabad United for the first time this season to seal their place in Thursday's PSL final. The win in the first qualifier also put aside their dubious record of being the only PSL side without their final appearance to date; League-toppers United entered the second eliminator on Tuesday for another shot at the final.
The Sultans were set in motion after Sohaib Maqsood elected to bat, Johnson gained momentum after a downturn following Charles's cameo, and went strong with a blitz from Khushdil Shah, who scored 180 in the 19th over. After hitting four sixes to help him.
In the chase, United were down to three before their powerplay was cut in half and never really recovered. Sohail Tanvir had only one wicket in the season before the game, but this three-wicket haul proved to be timely, and Imran Tahir's experience - and his two wickets - meant that any potential fears from United's lower order could be safely put to rest. was controlled.
Tanveer defends and Khwaja's lone fight
United might not be intimidated by most totals given their campaign so far, but Tanvir has certainly instilled fear in them with the new ball. Colin Munro runs down the pitch in an attempt to negate his inswingers on the first ball - only to yorker himself and tonk the middle stump.
Tanveer then caught Shadab Khan on point with a slow delivery; Amidst all this, No 3 Muhammad Akhlaq was sent back with a direct hit from Imran Khan at short fine leg. United scored 14 for 3 in the third over; Historically, not many teams have won this format after losing so many wickets in the powerplay. And that will eventually be the case for United.
Khawaja was the only batsman - even during the collapse - to plan to score, using the characteristic touch play to minimize risk and still find boundaries. But the chase hinged on whether he could take the innings deeper with Iftikhar Ahmed and Asif Ali, two other experienced batsmen, and that was not to be the case. Iftikhar Blessing was done with a bounce in an attempt to cut Mujarbani, and Asif went past Imran Tahir's legbreak to be stumped.
The target was yet to be chased after scoring 61 runs for 5 wickets. Khawaja opened - scoring 18 runs off four Mujrabani balls at a time - and the batting depth meant United threw a flourish of late. But it was too much to remove the damage at the top.
Maqsood keeps the rate flowing
Mohammad Rizwan's decision to bat first did not go down well on the personal front; On review - for the duck - he was caught behind the gloves. But United's hard-fought first two overs was only a temporary victory as Maqsood stampeded himself on the game in the next over, opening Faheem Ashraf's over with a major slap at extra cover followed by two more Driven perfectly on time. This was the first indication that it was a pitch that assisted in boundary-scoring.
The next few also came off Maqsood's bat, in the form of two sixes at square leg, one off the front and one on the back foot. While Shan Masood was kept calm at the other end, the scoring rate remained - he finished the powerplay at 44 for 1.
Shadab punches, Charles and Khushdil punch
When Shadab fielded himself any sign of the pitch being a pure belter was suspected. After being pulled through midwicket on his first two balls - at first, literally through Hasan Ali's legs - he found one to rip back at Masood and got stuck in front. Two balls later, Riley Rossouw played for a googly on the front foot and lbw - also stuck on the review - when the legbreak caught him in front of the middle. After a budding partnership of 53, the Sultans suddenly made 59 for 3 wickets.
But Johnson Charles was in the attacking mood - and it showed from his first ball, when he brought up a controlled sweep for a boundary against Shadab. From there, he took on the role of attacker. An innings of 41 off 21 balls, in which he was hitting a boundary in almost every over, and three sixes hit took Sultan for 122 before being dismissed in the 15th over.
Maqsood was eventually dismissed in the 17th over, and United pulled things back - he was dismissed for only eight runs off eight balls. But the 19th over went horribly wrong as Khushdil plucked them from 145 to 174 against Aaqif Javed for four consecutive sixes; Three of them swung to the leg side, and one ended up on third man as he looked to swing it to the leg side. The Sultans needed to finish after it fell on a good pitch.