A man-of-the-match knock by 22-year-old Hussain Talat helped Islamabad United defeat Multan Sultans by five wickets in their Pakistan Super League match in Dubai on Sunday.

Islamabad United captain Rumman Raees, standing in for the injured Misbahul Haq for the second straight game, won the toss and put Multan Sultans in to bat first — a decision that paid dividends in the third over when United bowler Rumman Raees got Sultans opener Kumar Sangakkara caught out.

Another over in, and Dwayne Bravo was caught out off a delivery by Mohammad Sami.

Sami struck again in the sixth over, this time sending the ever unreliable Sohaib Maqsood back to the pavilion.

England's Steven Finn, making his PSL debut, bowled an excellent line and length, even picking up the wicket of Ahmed Shehzad.

The Sultans' hopes of putting together a decent total rested on Shoaib Malik and Kieron Pollar's broad shoulders.

Malik did find a rare moment of respite, dancing down the pitch to dispatch Shadab Khan for a six.

Islamabad mascot Sheru's mood told the story how the match was going for the capital city side up until that point.

The trick that worked for Malik the first time worked again as him and Pollard tried to speed up the scoring.

Pollard went after compatriot Andre Russell in the 15th over, hitting two 4s and a six before Russell trapped him in front of the wickets. Here's one of his three boundaries.

And now the dismissal.

The Sultans' innings entered crisis mode in the 16th over when they lost Malik. The ball was traveling at some pace but couldn't escape Shadab's grasp.

Skipper Raees was excellent at the death, bowling out a couple of batters to restrict the Sultans to just 113 runs.

In reply, the capital city side were dealt an early blow when they lost Luke Ronchi on the bowling of former United man Mohammad Irfan.

Chadwick Walton, however, seemed in good nick early on, hitting several sweet boundaries.

A lot was expected from the young Sahibzada Farhan, and he hit a few boundaries but was completely bamboozled by the tricky Imran Tahir.

Last game's hat-trick hero Junaid Khan was again excellent in his opening overs, removing the dangerous Walton as the Sultans threatened to come back into the game.

The Sultans were officially back in the game in the incredible 11th over when Tahir removed Asif Ali and Russell in back-to-back balls and thought he had a hat-trick the next ball, only for the third umpire to rule against him.

The South African leggie finished with figures of 19-3 in his four overs as the game headed towards the business end.

But Hussain Talat (48) and Faheem Ashraf stopped the leaking of wickets and batted responsibly.

The duo made sure that United secured a five-wicket win.