Peshawar Zalmi 196 for 6 (Mendis 68, Haris 38, Ismail 2-22) beat Multan Sultans 172 for 8 (Masood 35, Muqeem 3-30) by 24 runs
Kusal Mendis' golden PSL campaign showed no signs of abating as, clad in the gold and green of Peshawar Zalmi, he led his side to a convincing 24-run win over Multan Sultans.
A blazing start from Mohammad Haris was followed by Kusal's 40-ball 68, as cameos around him propelled Zalmi to 196 for 6. For bits of the chase, the Sultans threatened to hunt it down, especially when Shan Masood took down Aamer Jamal in an entertaining cameo, but his departure also heralded the end of his side's resistance. A sensational death overs' spell from Nahid Rana shut the door in the Sultans' faces as Zalmi maintained their unbeaten start to the season.
Match no. 22 was a battle between the top two sides as the Sultans put Zalmi in to bat. Babar Azam struggled for fluency and eventually departed after a torrid 18 in 20 balls, but the out-of-form Haris made sweet connection with the ball. The first two balls of the game went for fours, and Haris continued to target Mohammad Nawaz, pulverising him for three more more sixes in his second over. By the fifth over, he had gone, but not before flying to 38 off 17.
Zalmi relied heavily through the middle overs on the form of Kusal. After a stodgy start, he picked up the rate in Arafat Minhas's final over with a couple of sixes, and that put him on track. Before long, he was picking up his third fifty-plus score by plundering Mohammad Wasim for three boundaries. He was well supported by other contributions: Farhan Yousaf gave him company for a 63-run partnership, while Michael Bracewell and Iftikhar Ahmed struck cameos too.
For the first 15 overs of the chase, neither side appeared to tip the game in their favour. Josh Philippe and Steven Smith kept the asking rate honest in the first ten overs after Iftikhar had got rid of the dangerous Sahibzada Farhan for a comparatively sedate 10-ball 17. However, there was no Kusal-equivalent who held the Sultans innings together. Babar's men - led by the three-for delivered by Sufiyan Muqeem - were regularly able to puncture through the Sultans.
Even so, Sultans appeared on track thanks to breezy contributions from their captain Ashton Turner and Shan Masood. Masood's 21-run over off Jamal's bowling, in fact, edged Sultans in front. But in what turned out to be a masterstroke, Babar turned to Iftikhar and his golden arm, with the veteran drawing Masood into a miscue at deep cover. He smashed 35 off 19, but with limited firepower in store, Sultans needed more from him.
What followed was among the best slog overs' displays of the season. In the 17th and 19th overs, Nahid conceded just eight, picking up a couple of wickets and regularly exceeded 147 kph. The final five overs produced a mere 26 as Zalmi secured a comfortable win that had looked anything but about 20 minutes earlier.
