KARACHI: Multan Sultan bulldozed Quetta Gladiators by 79 runs in the last round-robin fixture of the HBL Pakistan Super League on Tuesday to book a spot in the qualifier.

They will take on Peshawar Zalmi in the Thursday match, winning which will earn them a place in the March 18 finale.

The Gladiators, meanwhile, will have to suffice with playing the Eliminator on Friday against Islamabad United.

They posed no threat whatsoever to Multan, as they were bundled out for 106 in the pursuit of 186 runs, that came on the back of half centuries by Mohammad Rizwan and Johnson Charles.

Quetta never got going and were shaken by pacer David Willey to start with. The English left-hander trapped opener Jason Roy lbw before cleaning up Gladiators captain Rilee Rossouw.

He got the better of tailender Abrar Ahmed to register figures of 3-22.

Leg-spinner Usama Mir took as many wickets — including that of Omair Bin Yousuf, who was Quetta’s best batter with 37 off 35 — giving away as many runs. Meanwhile, pacer Abbas Afridi picked up two wickets.

After being put into bat, Multan rode on a blistering 69 off 47 by Rizwan and Charles’ 53 off 29 down the order to post 185-4.

Multan were thwarted by the dismissal of opener Yasir Khan and dangerman Usman Khan early as the latter was bowled through the gates by spinner Abrar.

With the scorecard reading 70-2 at halfway stage, Rizwan assumed the role of the power-hitter rather than going for his usual anchoring approach.

The Pakistan wicket-keeper hit four sixes and a four in his knock and combined with Charles for 68 off 43 balls in the third-wicket partnership.

When pacer Mohammad Amir forced a skier off Rizwan to dismiss the batter in the 17th over, Iftikhar Ahmed ensured he kept things going along with Charles.

The hard-hitting batter added an unbeaten 20 off eight ball with the help of two fours and a six.

The unbeaten partnership between Iftikhar and Charles was worth 46 runs off 18 balls.

Scoreboard

MULTAN SULTANS:

Yasir Khan c Evans b Amir 12

M. Rizwan c Rossouw b Amir 69

Usman Khan b Abrar 21

J. Charles b Wasim 53

Iftikhar Ahmed not out 20

Tayyab Tahir not out 3

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-6) 7

TOTAL (for four wickets, 20 overs) 185

DID NOT BAT: C. Jordan, D. Willey, Usama Mir, Mohammad Ali, Abbas Afridi

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-16 (Yasir), 2-68 (Usman), 3-136 (Rizwan), 4-182 (Charles)

BOWLING: Amir 4-0-40-2 (4w), Hosein 4-0-26-0, Abrar 4-0-39-1, Usman 4-0-38-0 (2w), Wasim 3-0-31-1, Saud 1-0-10-0

QUETTA GLADIATORS:

J. Roy lbw b Willey 3

Saud Shakeel run out (Yasir) 14

R. Rossouw b Willey 10

Omair bin Yousuf c Jordan b Usama 37

L. Evans c Jordan b Abbas 1

Khawaja Nafay lbw b Ali 16

A. Hosein c Evans b Abbas 6

Mohammad Wasim b Usama 11

Mohammad Amir b Usama 3

Abrar Ahmed c Rizwan b Willey 0

Usman Tariq not out 0

EXTRAS (W-4, LB-1) 5

TOTAL (all out, 15.5 overs) 106

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-18 (Roy), 2-21 (Saud), 3-36, Rossouw, 4-47 (Evans), 5-73 (Nafay), 6-91 (Omaor), 7-91 (Hosein), 8-99 (Amir), 9-106 (Abrar)

BOWLING: Willey 4-0-22-3 (1w), Ali 3-0-35-1 (1w), Jordan 2-0-12-0, Abbas 3-0-14-2 (1w), Usama 3.5-0-22-3 (1w)

TOSS: Quetta Gladiators

RESULT: Multan Sultans won by 79 runs

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2024