Needing to win nearly every game for play-off contention, Imran Tahir also plays starring role
Rilee Rossouw made a 24-ball 44 for the Sultans, who seemed on track for 200 at one stage
Multan Sultans 176 for 5 (Shah 44*, Rossouw 44, Perera 2-12) beat Karachi Kings 164 for 6 (Azam 85*, Walton 35, Imran 3-28) by 12 runs
Walking in to bat in the very first over, Sohaib Maqsood didn’t take long to get sighters as he went after Imad Wasim. With the knowledge that the ball wasn’t going to turn or even skid through on a slow deck, he used his height and muscle to keep backing away to pepper the off-side boundaries in a sequence of 4,4,6,4 in Wasim’s second over, the third of the innings, to give the Sultans a power boost.
Mohammad Amir’s search for swing was unsuccessful, which meant easy pickings for both Mohammad Rizwan and Rossouw. Off the third ball he faced off Amir, Rizwan nonchalantly flicked him over fine leg to get going. And when Amir went shorter, Rossouw backed away to muscle a pull as if he was swatting a mid-120s bowler. This was some kind of a message that the Sultans were going to counter-punch. The pair raised their half-century stand off just 28 deliveries as the Sultans were well-perched at 107 for 2 in ten overs.
Then came the brakes. The Sultans didn’t score a boundary for 38 deliveries – from the middle of the tenth over till the start of the 16th – and lost both set batsmen in Rizwan and Rossouw in the space of three deliveries. Thisara Perera dictated terms, as he stuck to a simple wicket-to-wicket approach with excellent variations in pace. Perera would bowl just three overs, his 2 for 12 going a long way in restricting the Sultans in the middle. Having lost 4 for 21 going into the death overs, the Sultans found a saviour in Shah. Perhaps realising the need to bat till the end, he delayed his slog before suddenly coming alive by clouting Amir for two fours and a six in a final over that went for 19. Shah’s contribution by then was a neat unbeaten 32-ball 44.
Azam left high and dry, as Tahir leaves imprint
The Kings had an early setback when Sharjeel Khan was run out backing up too far at the non-striker’s end in the fourth over. Thereafter, Martin Guptill did little to enhance his reputation in Asia, totally foxed by a Tahir googly for a painstaking 16-ball 11 in the tenth over, by which time the asking rate had spiralled to 11.50. Only Azam stood in the way of victory for the Sultans.
He found an ally in Chadwick Walton as the pair offset the mounting asking rate with some cheeky strokes by looking to use the pace rather than muscle the ball big. With 72 needed off 29 deliveries, Tahir was denied a third wicket when Rizwan missed a stumping to reprieve him on 61. Azam immediately put the pressure back by shellacking the second ball he faced after that for a six.
Going into the final three overs, the Kings continued to mount a final assault, eventually bringing it down to 36 off the last two. But you got the sense they were one big shot or a run out away from losing the game, which is what eventually happened. Azam was stranded in the end on 85, perhaps wondering if he’d just miscalculated a bit.
Shashank Kishore is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
Source: ESPN Crickinfo