Pakistan Super League 2021

Well, this is it from the 16th match of PSL. This is Arijit signing off along with my co-commentators, Arjun Bhalla and Arjun Singh. Hope you enjoyed the live coverage and see you soon for the next match starting at 11:30 pm. Stay Safe and take care!!

Mohammad Rizwan (winning captain- Multan Sultans): "Every team tries to win, and the toss is not in our hands, so we didn't think about the uncontrollable, so we just gave our best and ended up on the winning side. We tried deciding according to the conditions - 4 pacers, and 1 spinner, and we'll keep deciding according to the conditions in the future matches"

Rilee Rossouw (Man of the Match) : "We wanted to play brave cricket, and it paid off for me. That's what the coach and the captain decided on for the team in the team meetings."

Imad Wasim (Losing Captain- Karachi Kings) - "They bowled well, perhaps we could have gone hard at the top, but credit to them - they bowled to a plan and executed it well. There was nothing wrong with the way we played, Babar is a class player and he usually does well for us. It was a good wicket, I thought we did well to restrict them under 180 with the way they started. Thought the powerplay was the key in both part of the match"

In the end, if closely analysed, there could be two talking points where the game changed in favour of the Multans. Firstly, the last 9 balls of the first innings went for 25 runs and Sharjeel Khan and Sohail Tanvir has to be credited for it. They lead the charge in the slogs and managed to get 176 on the board which once felt like an improbable thing to bang on. Secondly, the slow start of Karachi Kings has to be the other reason for the failure in the run-chase by Babar Azam and his crew.

This is when the game completely shifted towards the Multan Sultans. With 23 runs required off the last over, the Kings lost three wickets in the form of Thisara Perera, Imad Wasim and Qasim Akram, thereby falling short in the chase by just 12 runs. The wickets were distributed between Imran Khan who scalped three in the last over and Imran Tahir who bagged two wickets from his full quota of four overs.

Both Martin Guptill and Najibullah Zadran departed for 11 runs after getting plumb in front giving away two wickets to the leggie, Imran Tahir. It was Babar Azam, who was holding the run-chase from one end and he desperately was in need of support from the other end. And this when Chadwick Walton came to the act and contributed 35 runs off 23 deliveries. With wickets in hand, slowly and steadily the Kings were approaching towards the mark. But with the required run-rate climbing high, Chadwick Walton went run out when the team needed him the most.

Coming in for the chase, it wasn't the same ordinary day for the Karachi fans where they would get to see the Babar-Sharjeel duo scoring runs in heaps. They lost Sharjeel Khan in the 4th over in an eerie fashion after a straight drive from Babar Azam fled past the stumps touching at the finger of the bowler towards the non-striker's end. The Kings got off to a very slow start with respect to the required runs and managed only 31 runs of the powerplay.

All of a sudden there was a halt in the flooding runs and the Karachi Kings were well ahead in the game. It looked like the batting side would make it difficult to go beyond 150 but credits to Khusdil Shah and Sohail Tanvir who glued a valuable 48 runs from the last 31 balls to see off 176 runs after a full quota of 20 overs. The doyen all-rounder from Srilanka, Thisara Perera was the pick of the bowlers after scalping two big fishes and giving away just 12 runs from his 3 overs while Imad Wasim and Waqab Maqsood fetched one each.

Earlier in the evening, Imad Wasim of Karachi Kings had won the toss and elected to field first. Putting to bat, the Multan's lost their opener in a bizarre way. Soon came Shoab Maqsood who hurried for 31 runs off just 14 deliveries before getting knocked down by Waqais Maqsood. All of a sudden there was a shift in the momentum as Riley Rossow and Md. Rizwan made sure to keep the momentum going. Both these batters jolted a handy 68 runs to the board before Rossow got out to a slower delivery from Thisara Perera. Perera banged in another wicket anytime soon and it was the skipper Md. Rizwan.

So, that's it from match no.16 of PSL as the Multan Sultan's beats Karachi Kings by 12 runs to wrap things off with two points in their bags. It's been a great game of cricket between the two but an array of wickets in the last over will result in the Kings falling in despair. What's humorous is that Babar Azam, who was batting at 85 didn't even get an opportunity to face the ball in the last over which demanded 23 runs from it for a victory. Hats off to Imran Khan, keeping his nerves calm and bowling the hard length in a monotonous manner. Probably a slower approach in the powerplay is what can be said a genuine cause for the defeat of Karachi kings.

Out

Q Akram

10(3)

c Sohaib Maqsood b Imran Khan

6s/
1/
4s
1
SR
333.33

19.6 I Khan to Q Akram

W WICKET!! And the game has been done now! Imran takes another wicket. Bowls a hard length outside the off stump. Akram tries to pull this one away again, gets it off the splice of the bat, and lobs up for a simple catch at the end to the fielder at covers. IN THE END, Multan Sultans win by 12 runs.

19.5 I Khan to Q Akram

6 HOCKED AND A MAXIMUM FOR THE DEBUTANT!!!!! Short of a length and angling into the batsman, Akram gets inside the line of this one and pulls it away over square leg for a maximum. Serious strike that but it is late for the Kings!

19.4 I Khan to Q Akram

4 EDGED AND FOUR!!!! Length ball outside the off stump, Akram gets a thick outside edge as he looks to punch it away. Races away off the outside edge to the fence this time. A little too late!

Out

I Wasim

0(1)

c Mohammad Rizwan b Imran Khan

6s/
0/
4s
0
SR
0.00

19.3 I Khan to I Wasim

W ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST! The Kings loss their skipper. Surprises him with a bouncer this time. Imad looking to pull, got a top edge and it was caught by Rizwan safely. Imran Khan is on a hat-trick then!