The all-important Qualifier of HBL PSL 6 happened last night. The two top teams of the PSL 6 points table faced each other at Sheikh Zayed Stadium. Islamabad United is being impressive throughout the PSL while Multan Sultans, lead by Muhammad Rizwan, struggled in the Karachi leg but impressed everyone in the UAE leg to book the second spot for them.
Qualifier 1 Rules
Qualifier 1 is the first game to be played in the playoffs of the PSL. The two teams that finish at the top of the points table face each other in this game. This match is the only one from playoff matches that is not knockout in nature. The winner of this competition goes to the finals straight away while the loser gets another chance in qualifier 2.
The loser faces the winner of the eliminator. Eliminator is played between the number 3rd and 4th team of the points table. Qualifier 2 is a knockout match. The winner gets a chance to play the final while the loser gets the home ticket.
Toss
Multan Sultans won the toss and elected to bat first and put a big score in front of United.
Playing XI
Both the teams tried their bench when they meet last time. But for this, the all-important game both the teams came up with full strength. Islamabad’s Playing XI was Shadab Khan, Colin Munro, Usman Khawaja, Muhammad Akhlaq, Hussain Talat, Asif Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Hassan Ali, Muhamamd Wasim Jr, and Akif Javed.
Multan Sultans XI was Muhammad Rizwan, Shan Masood, Sohaib Maqsood, Johnson Charles, Rilee Rossouw, Khushdil Shah, Sohail Tanveer, Imran Tahir, Imran Khan, Blessing Muzarabani, and Shahnawaz Dahani.
Sohaib Maqsood’s Charge
Hassan Ali opened the innings for Islamabad United and Shan Masood hit him for a boundary in the second ball. Akif Javed came to ball the next over and bowled a wide ball. Rizwan tried to edge the ball down the ground to get the boundary but hit the ball with his gloves and Muhammad Akhlaq took a simple catch.
Umpire Ahsan Raza didn’t give him out but Shadab Khan took the review after Akhlaq and Akif convinced him. This review paid back to United well as they got the wicket of second-leading run-scorer of the HBL PSL 6. Then came the big man, Sohaib Maqsood, the 3rd in leading run-scorer list of this year’s tournament after Babar and Rizwan.
Sohaib came on the crease and just started the charge on the United bowlers. He played a beautiful shot all over the ground. Starting with a lofted cover drive to Faheem for a boundary. In the same over, Sohaib hit Faheem for a total of three boundaries. Then he smashed Akif Javed for a six with a flick over leg gally.
Multan Sultans completed their fifty runs in 6.5 overs. Shan Masood smashed Shadab Khan for two consecutive boundaries but lost his wicket on the very next ball. In the same over Shadab got Rilee Rossouw as well.
Charles And Khushdil Finished In Style
Charles swiped the ball for a boundary on the very first ball to introduce himself. On the other hand, Sohaib Maqsood continued the charge on the United bowlers. He completed his fifty runs in just 32 balls with a beautiful six to Hassan Ali. At that time Charles was at 41 of 20 balls.
Charles lost his wicket in the next over after playing a quick inning for his team. He scored 41 with a strike rate of 195.2. Khushdil Shah was the new man to came out on the crease. He smashed the six in the very first over that he faced. In meantime, Sohaib changed his gloves and lost his wicket of Faheem Ashraf’s slow ball.
Khushdil Shah along with Sohail Tanveer faced the 19th over. Tanveer hit a boundary on the first ball and rotated the strike. After that Khushdil Shah changed the game by smashing 4 consecutive sixes to Akif Javed. 29 runs came of over number 19 which is the 3rd most expensive over of PSL history. Muhammad Wasim bowled brilliant last over and conceded only 6 runs.
Multan managed to score 180 runs in their 20 overs with the loss of 5 wickets. Sohaib Maqsood was the star with 59 runs in 41 balls followed by Johnson Charles’s 21 balls 41 and Khushdil’s unbeatable 42 of 22 balls.
Early Strikes From Tanveer
The experienced Sohail Tanveer bowled the first over of the innings. Usman Khawaja took the single to rotate strike. Sohail clean bowled Colin Munro on the first ball with a quick yorker. In meantime, Imran Khan’s brilliant fielding dismissed Muhammad Akhlaq with a direct hit on the stumps.
In the same over Shadab Khan tried to drive the ball but the ball went straight to Shan Masood at gully. In this way, United suffered from a bad start courtesy of Tnaveer’s brilliance. Two batsmen of Islamabad United got the ducks in just the first three overs.
Usman Khawaja took the responsibility of Islamabad United on his shoulders. Islamabad scored only 38 runs in their powerplay with the loss of 3 important wickets. The was still not that difficult for Islamabad because of their batting depth.
Khawaja’s Knock Gone In Vain
Khawaja along with Iftikhar took the responsibility and charged Sultans. Khawaja smashed few boundaries to keep the game going. Their partnership was of 40 runs. In meantime, Iftikhar didn’t manage the short ball from the tall man Blessing Muzarabani and edged the ball to Muhammad Rizwan.
Islamabad was now 54-4 after 8.1 overs. The required run rate was climbing up and wickets didn’t stop falling. Asif Ali used his feet and tried to hit Tahir but missed the ball and Rizwan stumped him in no time. Islamabad was now 74 for 5 after 12 overs. There was still a long way to go.
Usman Khawaja completed his fifty in 32 balls by hitting 2 boundaries to Imran Khan. In the next over of Muzarabani, Khawaja smashed 20 runs and United bounced back into the game. But Sohail Tanveer got rid of him as well. Khawaja scored a brilliant 70 of just 40 balls with 1 six and 9 boundaries.
After Khawaja, none of Islamabad’s batsmen stayed at the crease. One after another lost their wickets. In the 19th over Islamabad’s whole team finds the dust and Multan all out them for just 149 runs to win the competition by 31 runs and qualify for the finals.
Predictions
Our predictions for the remainder of the playoffs of the HBL PSL 6 is that Peshawar will face Multan Sultans in the finals and Multan will win it.
Match Summary
| Multan Sultans | 180/5(20 Overs) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sohaib Maqsood | 59(41) | Shadab Khan | 25/2 (4 Overs) |
| Khushdil Shah | 42(22)* | Faheem Ashraf | 35/2 (4 Over) |
| Islamabad United | 149(20 Overs) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Usman Khawaja | 70(40) | Sohail Tanveer | 17/3 (4 Overs) |
| Husain Talat | 25(25) | Blessing Muzarabani | 31/3 (4 Over) |
| Match Details | |
|---|---|
| Toss | Multan Won, Elected Bat |
| MOM | Sohail Tanveer |
| Umpire | Ahsan Raza Rashid Riaz |
| 3rd Umpire | Aleem Dar |
| Match Refree | Muhammad Javed |
Leave a Reply