KARACHI: Lahore Qalandars’ hopes of making the playoffs of HBL Pakistan Super League 6 in Abu Dhabi almost vanished on Friday after they suffered a crushing 80-run defeat against a rampant Multan Sultans at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.

Multan, on the other hand, just couldn’t do anything wrong on a balmy night to seal their place in the playoffs after setting Lahore a tricky 179-run target. They needed only 15.1 overs to blow away their harried opponents for just 89.

Shahnawaz Dhani led the demolition job with startling analysis of four wickets for just five runs in 3.1 overs, winning the Player of the Match award. The 22-year-old right-armer from Larkana became the leading wicket-taker in this tournament with 17 scalps.

Fellow seamer Imran Khan was also on song, taking three for 24 and pushing his team into second place behind runaway leaders Islamabad United. While Peshawar Zalmi are also through to the next phase, Lahore now await the outcome of holders Karachi Kings’ match against Quetta Gladiators on Saturday to find out whether they are in or out of the competition.

Always notorious in the run chase, the wheels quickly came off Lahore’s caravan when wickets began to tumble in clusters. Multan’s catching was outstanding as they took several brilliant takes, including a sliding effort by Imran Tahir to see off the dangerous James Faulkner, who was the top-scorer with an 11-ball 22. Captain Mohammad Rizwan grabbed two acrobatic catches on the run to remove Mohammad Hafeez and Rashid Khan.

Earlier in the evening, Multan rode on a scintillating 60-run knock from Sohaib Maqsood to collect 169-8 after being put in to bat.

They lost Shan Masood on the very first ball. But then Sohaib started confidently by making some cracking shots. He struck four sixes and three fours during his 40-ball innings.

Despite being 60-3 in the eighth over, Multan rallied through a partnership of 63 from 42 deliveries between Shoaib and Rilee Rossouw.

Just when it seemed that Multan would pie up a big score, Lahore struck at the right time to get rid of the left-handed Rossouw (29 off 24 balls, five boundaries) through brilliant umpiring by Aleem Dar, who heard the ball being nicked to wicket-keeper Ben Dunk off Ahmed Daniyal. Rossouw thought otherwise and sought review but to no avail as TV official Asif Yaqoob vindicated Aleem’s decision.

Multan lost their way at that point as five wickets fell for the addition of 18 runs in 24 balls. But Sohail Tanvir, the former Pakistan all-rounder, then gave his side something to bowl at by taking 24 runs off a shell-shocked Haris. He hammered two sixes in his priceless nine-ball cameo of 26.

While Haris had another disastrous evening with the ball (1-51 in four overs), Shaheen Shah Afridi and Faulkner were excellent as they took five wickets between them and gave away only 53 runs in their combined tally of eight overs.

Current standings

(Tabulated under, played, won, lost, tied,

no-result, points, net run-rate):

Islamabad United 9 7 2 0 0 14 +0.945

Multan Sultans 9 5 4 0 0 10 +1.192

Peshawar Zalmi 10 5 5 0 0 10 +0.586

Lahore Qalandars 10 5 5 0 0 10 -0.589

Karachi Kings 9 4 5 0 0 8 -0.212

Quetta Gladiators 9 2 7 0 0 4 -1.913

*updated after Lahore Qalandars vs Multan Sultans fixture on Friday night.

Scoreboard

MULTAN SULTANS:

Shan Masood lbw b Shaheen 0

Mohammad Rizwan c Dunk b Haris 15

Sohaib Maqsood c David b Shaheen 60

J. Charles lbw b Rashid 10

R.R. Rossouw c Dunk b Ahmed 29

Khushdil Shah c Dunk b Faulkner 2

Sohail Tanvir not out 26

Imran Tahir c Sohail b Faulkner 4

B. Muzarabani b Shaheen 0

Imran Khan not out 3

EXTRAS: (LB-7, W-8, NB-1) 16

TOTAL: (for eight wkts, 20 overs) 169

FALL OF WKTS: 1-0 (Shan), 2-45 (Rizwan), 3-60 (Charles), 4-123 (Rossouw), 5-135 (Sohaib), 6-136 (Khushdil), 7-140 (Imran Tahir), 8-141 (Muzarabani).

DID NOT BAT: Shahnawaz Dhani.

BOWLING: Shaheen Shah Afridi 4-0-23-3 (1nb, 2w); Faulkner 4-0-30-2; Haris Rauf 4-0-51-1 (1w); Rashid Khan 4-0-18-1 (1w); Ahmed Daniyal 3-0-24-1; Mohammad Hafeez 1-0-16-0.

LAHORE QALANDARS:

Fakhar Zaman c Rizwan b Dhani 13

B.R. Dunk c Charles b Imran Khan 5

M. Hafeez c Khushdil b Muzarabani 14

Salman Ali Agha c Rizwan b Muzarabani 13

Sohail Akhtar st Rizwan b Imran Tahir 5

T.H. David b Imran Khan 10

J.P. Faulkner c Imran Tahir b Dhani 22

Rashid Khan c Rizwan b Dhani 2

Shaheen Shah Afridi c Rossouw b Dhani 2

Haris Rauf c Imran Tahir b Imran Khan 1

Ahmed Daniyal not out 1

EXTRAS: (W-1) 1

TOTAL: (all out, 15.1 overs) 89

FALL OF WKTS: 1-8 (Dunk), 2- 24 (Fakhar), 3-34 (Hafeez), 4-48 (Sohail), 5-52 (Salman), 6-83 (David), 7-85 (Faulkner), 8-85 (Rashid), 9-87 (Haris), 10-89 (Shaheen).

BOWLING: Sohail Tanvir 3-0-16-0; Imran Khan 4-0-24-3; Shahnawaz Dhani 3.1-1-5-4; Muzarabani 2-0-26-2 (1w); Imran Tahir 3-0-18-1.

RESULT: Multan Sultans won by 80 runs.

UMPIRES: Aleem Dar and Shozab Raza.

TV UMPIRE: Asif Yaqoob.

MATCH REFEREE: Mohammad Javed Malik.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Shahnawaz Dhani (Multan Sultans).

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2021