Defending champions Islamabad United set an easy target of 122 run against Multan Sultans in the 16th match of Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2019 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai on Tuesday.
Sultans won the toss and elected to field first against Islamabad United – a decision which apparently paid off.
Islamabad United lost early wickets in its innings and were all out in 18th over. Daniel Christian took three wickets while Shahid Afridi, Nouman Ali and Muhammad Ilyas took two each.
On the other hand, Luke Ronchi scored 32, Asif Ali 22 and Faheem Ashraf 16 runs.
They had earlier clashed on February 16 also at Dubai where Multan Sultans defeated Islamabad United by five wickets. That was the only victory for the Sultans as they never won any other match in the first phase.
Multan have only two points and they are at the bottom on the table while Islamabad are placed third with six points, having won three and lost two matches.
The highest total, Multan Sultans scored in the PSL4, is 200/6 (vs Lahore Qalandars at Sharjah on February 22) while the highest for Islamabad United is so far 177/5 (vs Lahore Qalandars at Dubai on February 14).
The batsman, who made the most runs for Multan is their captain Shoaib Malik (168 in five matches with two fifties) and for Islamabad is Luke Ronchi (166 in five matches with two fifties).
The bowler taking the most wickets for Multan is left-arm fast bowler Junaid Khan with eight wickets and for Islamabad is medium-pacer Faheem Ashraf with seven wickets.
The Pakistan Super League (PSL)’s fourth edition has reached its half way as all the six participating teams have completed the first phase, playing five matches – one each against all other teams.
Now the PSL-4 is going back from Sharjah to Dubai where further seven matches will be played from February 26 to March 1 before shifting to another UAE state Abu Dhabi.
The teams will now move to second phase in which another 15 matches will be played. Every team will face each of the other five participants.
Squads
Islamabad United: Mohammad Sami (captain), Luke Ronchi, Sahibzada Farhan, Asif Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Hussain Talat, Cameron Delport, Ian Bell, Philip Salt, Rizwan Hussain, Shadab Khan, Waqas Maqsood, Samit Patel, Rumman Raees, Muhammad Musa, Wayne Parnell
Multan Sultans: Shoaib Malik (captain), Shan Masood, Tom Moores, Umar Siddiq, Laurie Evans, Andre Russell, Shahid Afridi, Hammad Azam, Chris Green, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Ilyas, Mohammad Irfan, Johnson Charles, Ali Shafiq, James Vince, Daniel Christian, Shakeel Ansar, Nauman Ali
