The eighth edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) got of to a blistering start, with two scintillating contests on the opening two days of the tournament.
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The match no.3 however, between the Multan Sultans and Quetta Gladiators yesterday turned out to be a pretty lopsided contest at the Multan Cricket Ground, which hosted its second match this season.
On a decent batting surface, the home side Multan won the Toss and skipper Mohammad Rizwan opted to field first. His bowlers did not disappoint him one bit, as they rocked the Gladiators’ top three batters within the Powerplay itself, with the scorecard reading 38 runs.
Having already dismissed Quetta skipper Sarfaraz Khan (2 off 7) in his very first Over, Multan fast bowler Ihsanullah bowled a double-wicket maiden during his second Over of the innings, as the team lost half their side by the 10-Over mark.
Bowling regularly over 145 km/h clicks, the 20-year-old demolished the opposition line-up by picking up a five wicket-haul, with his ultimate bowling figures reading 4-1-12-5. The Gladiators somehow huffed-and-puffed towards the score of 110 in 18.5 Overs.
Who won yesterday PSL match 2023
It would have required a collective failure from a star-studded Multan batting line-up to mess up whilst chasing a paltry target of 111 runs.
However, despite losing Shan Masood early, South Africa Southpaw batter Rilee Russouw (78* off 42) took the bowlers to the cleaners, and smashed 9 Fours and 3 Sixes on his way towards an unbeaten half-century.
With a sedate Mohammad Rizwan (28* off 34) at the other end, they chased the total down in mere 13.3 Overs, as Multan Sultans won the match by 9 wickets, to get off the mark in the points table.
No points for guessing, it was Ihsanullah, for his five-wicket haul who won the ‘Player of the Match’ award.
🗣️ Touching the 1️⃣5️⃣0️⃣ kmph mark and performing in Multan – Ihsanullah talks to Arafat Minhas about his dream spell ✨#HBLPSL8 | #SabSitarayHumaray | #MSvQG pic.twitter.com/TfBds3Hcty
— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) February 15, 2023
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