Rizwan stars as Sultans consolidate on top spot with big win

Sultans remain unbeaten in five games. © AFP
Mohammad Rizwan notched up his third half-century of the season, and aided by a destructive 51* from Tim David and Khushdil Shah's three sixes, Multan Sultans successfully, and convincingly, defended 222 against Peshawar Zalmi to make it five in five and consolidate their spot at the top of the PSL 2022 standings.

Put in to bat first, the Sultans' in-form opening pair of Rizwan and Shan Masood (35 off 25) posted an 85-run opening stand before being separated off the final ball of the ninth over to Shoaib Malik after hitting him for back-to-back boundaries. Rizwan, meanwhile, was the aggressor in the partnership and went on to raise a 31-ball fifty in the following over, in the company of Shoaib Maqsood.

Maqsood, after being dropped on 7, went on to slam 16 runs including two sixes, in the next five deliveries he faced before seeing one crash into his stumps in his attempt to up the ante. David, however, made his intentions clear from the word go with a first-ball six over deep-midwicket, followed by a four. For the next five overs, Rizwan played a second fiddle as David took centre stage and tore apart the Zalmi bowling attack bringing up the fifty of the partnership in just 25 deliveries with the fourth of his half-a-dozen sixes. He himself took just 18 to his half-century, a ball after which Rizwan holed out to deep cover for a fine 53-ball 82. Khushdil raised the 200 for Sultans with a brace off the first ball of the 20th over before slamming a hat-trick of sixes off Wahab Riaz to help his side finish with a daunting 222/3 - having added 133 in the second half.

Even though Zalmi's openers were off to a brisk start, pulling off a chase of that scale required steady partnerships which they never got going until it was too late in the day. First-change bowler Shahnawaz Dahani was particularly impressive in his opening spell, where he accounted for Kamran Akmal and Haider Ali in quick succession to throw the opposition off track while Imran Tahir sent Shoaib Malik and Shane Rutherford packing in his successive overs after the powerplay. Hazratullah Zazai made 43 off his team's 93 before he was the fifth man dismissed in the 12th over, becoming the South African spinner's third victim on the night.

Zalmi had further slipped to 126 for 7 by the end of the 18tht over but Ben Cutting's counter-attacking fifty restored some respectability. Cutting went on the offence with a six and a four off the final two deliveries of the 18th over before taking Dahani to the cleaners in his final over with three sixes to spoil his figures a tad. He went from 17 off 18 to a 29-ball fifty but all it did was bring down Zalmi's margin of defeat to 57.

Brief scores: Multan Sultans222/3 in 20 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 82, Tim David 51*; Shoaib Malik 1-17)beat Peshawar Zalmi165/8 in 20 overs (Ben Cutting 52*, Hazaratullah Zazai 43; Imran Tahir 3-25, Shahnawaz Dahani 3-41) by 57 runs.