Moeen shines as Multan hammer Karachi

KARACHI: Multan Sultans continued to enthrall their home fans as they romped to their second successive win when they crushed Karachi Kings by 52 runs in the HBL PSL match on Friday.

At the Multan Stadium, spinners Imran Tahir and Shahid Afridi bowled brilliantly to set up Multan’s victory after their batsmen had posted what later proved to be a match-winning target of 187 runs.

Imran and Afridi shared five wickets between them as they choked the Karachi batsmen and did not allow them to score freely. Sohail Tanvir, who got a four-wicket haul in Sultans win over Peshawar Zalmi on Wednesday, also bowled well and took 2-20.

Alex Hales with 29 and Umaid Asif 20 were the only batsmen to offer some resistance in what was a less than inspiring batting performance by the Kings. After being asked to bat first, Sultans finished at a formidable 186-6 in their 20 overs courtesy half-centuries by opener and man-of-the-match Moeen Ali and skipper Shan Masood.

The two added 71 runs for the second wicket partnership after Zeeshan Ashraf (23 off 13 balls) had provided the hosts a flying start in a 31-run opening stand with Moeen.

Moeen hit four fours and as many sixes in his 65-run innings that came off 42 balls. He was the second wicket to fall. Shan faced 42 balls scoring 61 runs with the help of seven fours and one six.

Khushdil Shah (10) was the only other batsman to reach double figures as Sultans innings was built on the contributions by Moeen and Shan. Mohammad Amir took 2-27, while Chris Jordan grabbed 2-29.

Karachi Kings won toss

Multan Sultans

MM Ali c Delport b Umaid 65

Zeeshan Ashraf c Babar b Iftikhar 23

*Shan Masood b Jordan 61

RR Rossouw c Babar b Amir 8

RS Bopara c Umaid b Amir 9

Khushdil Shah c Walton b Jordan 10

Shahid Afridi not out 1

Sohail Tanvir not out 2

Extras (lb 5, nb 1, w 1) 7

Total (6 wickets, 20 overs) 186

Did not bat: Imran Tahir, Mohammad Ilyas, Mohammad Irfan

Fall: 1-31, 2-102, 3-140, 4-164, 5-175, 6-184

Bowling: Amir 4-0-27-2; Umaid 4-0-34-1; Iftikhar 3-0-42-1; Jordan 4-0-29-2; Imad 1-0-12-0; Delport 4-0-37-0

Karachi Kings

Sharjeel Khan lbw b Ali 16

Babar Azam c Ilyas b Irfan 13

AD Hales c Shan b Afridi 29

CS Delport c Ali b Imran 8

CAK Walton c Khushdil b Imran 15

*Imad Wasim c Zeeshan b Afridi 5

Iftikhar Ahmed c Khushdil b Ilyas 14

CJ Jordan lbw b Imran 7

Umaid Asif c Bopara b Tanvir 20

Umer Khan not out 3

Mohammad Amir b Tanvir 2

Extras (w 2) 2

Total (all out, 17 overs) 134

Fall: 1-19, 2-45, 3-66, 4-68, 5-75, 6-87, 7-106, 8-120, 9-131, 10-134

Bowling: Irfan 4-0-24-1, Ali 2-0-25-1, Tanvir 3-0-20-2, Ilyas 2-0-19-1, Afridi 3-0-18-2, Imran 3-0-28-3

Result: Multan Sultans won by 52 runs

Man of the Match: Moeen Ali (MS)

Umpires: Shozab Raza and Faisal Afridi (Pakistan). TV Umpire: Asif Yaqoob (Pakistan)