ISLAMABAD: Multan Sultans brushed aside Peshawar Zalmi, beating the “Yellow Storm” by seven wickets at the National Bank Stadium in Karachi on Thursday to reach the final of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) tournament for a fourth consecutive time.
Batting second, the Sultans were handed a modest 147-run target by Zalmi, who finished at 146/7 from their 20 overs. Skipper Muhammad Rizwan could only score 15 runs from 21 balls before he was dismissed by Aamer Jamal.
Opener Yasir Khan scored 54 runs from 37 balls while Usman Khan remained unbeaten on 36. A 22-run blitz from Iftikhar Ahmed sealed the win for the Sultans.
“Clinical. Commanding. Teamwork puts us in the driving seat once again,” the Sultans wrote on social media platform X after clinching the convincing victory.
Batting first, Zalmi were unable to stop the flurry of wickets that kept falling throughout their innings. Skipper Babar Azam top-scored with 46 runs from 42 balls before a blistering yorker from Chris Jordan sent him back to the pavilion.
Opener Saim Ayub failed to impress, scoring only one run from four balls before he was dismissed by David Willey. Mohammad Haris scored 22 runs from 14 balls while Tom Kohler-Cadmore gave some support to the Yellow Storm in the middle by scoring a run-a-ball 24.
Jordan returned figures of 2/28 while Usama Mir finished with 2/16 to keep the Zalmi batters restricted to 146/7. Abbas Afridi, Willey and Mohammad Ali all took a single wicket each for the Sultans.
Zalmi will face the winner of Friday’s match between Islamabad United and Quetta Gladiators on Saturday, in Eliminator 2. The winner of Eliminator 2 will go on to meet the Sultans in the final on Mar. 18.
