Openers help Multan Sultans return to winning ways

Openers Steven Smith and Sahibzada Farhan set up Multan Sultans' easy win over Quetta Gladiators on Sunday (April 5) in Lahore. Chasing a modest target of 167, Sultans got home with 15 balls to spare after the two openers added 71 runs from the first five overs. While the Sultans have three wins from four games, the Gladiators have the exact opposite record, losing three from four.

Khawaja Nafay opened the batting this time and nailed the slog sweep in the very first over against the opposition captain Ashton Turner, before getting trapped lbw in the following over. With Shamyl Hussain also failing to make an impact, Gladiators were pushed on the backfoot very early. Hasan Nawaz then hit a couple of boundaries to break the shackles and Saud Shakeel took on veteran Peter Siddle to revive the Powerplay for Gladiators.

Shakeel continued to bat in positive fashion, leading from the front, with regular boundaries but Sultans maintained their grip on the contest after Arafat Minhas struck twice in a single over. At the halfway mark, with only 73 runs on the board, Gladiators had plenty to do. No boundaries were conceded in the next three overs before Ben Jacobs exploded against Faisal Akram to inject some much-needed momentum. Shakeel departed after scoring fifty, but Jacobs and Ahmed Daniyal hit boundaries in the death overs to lead the charge. Their exploits ensured 43 runs were scored in the final three overs.

Any momentum that the Gladiators built towards the end of the innings quickly evaporated when Smith and Farhan came out all guns blazing. Smith kickstarted the chase with two fours and a six off Alzarri Joseph's first over whereas Farhan meted out similar treatment to Abrar Ahmed. The Australian veteran then belted four successive boundaries off Tom Curran before Farhan targeted Abrar again. As a result, 63 runs were wiped out in just the first four overs, pretty much signalling the end for the bowling side.

While Joseph eventually broke the partnership and Shakeel saw the back of Josh Philippe, Sultans were coasting at 106/2 at the halfway mark. At that point, the Gladiators needed a miracle which never arrived. Smith cashed in to score his first half-century of the tournament whereas Shan Masood made merry at the other end. Hasan Nawaz struck late to pick up a couple of wickets but it hardly mattered as Masood remained unbeaten until the end to guide Sultans home. They now have a short turnaround and play again in less than 24 hours.

Brief scores: Quetta Gladiators 166/7 in 20 overs (Saud Shakeel 56, Bevon Jacobs 49*; Mohammad Nawaz 3-30, Arafat Minhas 2-14) lost to Multan Sultans 167/4 in 17.3 overs (Steven Smith 53, Shan Masood 46*; Hasan Nawaz 2/17) by 6 wickets