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PSL 2021 | MS vs ISU: Battle of supremacy awaits final league game as Sultans look to tame Sherus from Islamabad

Abhishek Singh

Nobody would have thought at the premature end of the first leg that Multan Sultans, reeling at the bottom of the Points Table would be vying for the bragging rights at the league stage against the table-toppers Islamabad United. But such has been the rise of the Mohammad Rizwan led side, that after four consecutive wins, it will look to tame the most successful Pakistan Super League team, of this season, as well as of all seasons. 

While Sultans are coming on the back of four consecutive wins or so to say without dropping even a single point in the Abu Dhabi leg of the tournament, United has been a force to reckon with in this season so far as well. 

The real bat and ball battle

The match between Sultans and United is going to be a pepper battle between bat and ball as they have been the two teams with contrasting richness in resources producing similar results in this Abu Dhabi leg. Since June 9, the United have had the luxury to have in their side, ultimate batters like Usman Khawaja, Colin Munro and Asif Ali. The three combined have added 541 runs at a strike rate of more than 176, which is lethal, to say the least. 

On the other hand, Sultans boast of Shahnawaz Dhani, Imran Tahir and Imran Khan. The trio has wreaked havoc with the ball in the Abu Dhabi leg. In total the three of them have taken 23 wickets in just four games. They are the reason why Sultans have been able to bowl out two teams in just the four games they have played in this leg. In total, the side from Multan has picked up 34 wickets in the Abu Dhabi leg, most for any team in the league. 

However, all these stats don’t mean that Multan doesn’t have good batsmen or United don’t have good bowlers. The presence of Mohammad Rizwan and Hasan Ali on both sides respectively proves that they do. When it comes to the battle, it is going to between the bowling of Multan and batting of Islamabad to decide which team goes into the Playoffs as superior of them all at the league stage.

Multan Sultans vs Islamabad United: Match Details

Match Number- 30

Date and Time: June 19, 2021, 11:30 pm IST, 06:00 pm GMT, 10:00 pm Local

Venue: Sheikh Zayed Stadium

Broadcast and Live Stream: Sony Sports Network and Sony LIV

Pitch Report

The pitch would be a used one as one match would have already been played on the wicket. It, being a doubleheader affair might become a little help for the spinner of the amount of dew remains as it was during the last doubleheaders day on Thursday, June 17. In that match, spinners of Karachi King bought a lot of purchase and thus similar sort of help could be expected in the second innings over here as well. 

Weather and Toss

It is projected that humidity would be around 74-80% throughout the game with temperatures hovering in the early thirties. All these are indications that there is going to be a lot of dew. In normal circumstances, it would mean that team winning the toss would bowl first. However, in the Abu Dhabi leg of the PSL, teams defending a total have won nine out of 14 times, including four times in the last four games. 

Thus a decision after toss would not be an easy one to make. 

Team News

Multan Sultans

The Sultans have been winning with the same combination from the last two games, thus it doesn’t seem they would go for a change until injury forces them to. 

Probable XI

Shan Masood, Mohammad Rizwan (c & wk), Sohaib Maqsood, Johnson Charles, Rilee Rossouw, Khushdil Shah, Sohail Tanvir, Blessing Muzarabani, Shahnawaz Dhani, Imran Khan, Imran Tahir

Islamabad United

Having qualified comfortably, United change its team combination in the last game to give rest to a few key players, including regular Shadab Khan ahead of the Playoffs. In this game, considering its importance, most of those players might come back. 

However, it would be hard to bench Akif Javed and Brandon King, both of whom performed well in the last game. Considering that Akif Ajved does play, then either Muhammad Musa or Mohammad Wasim Jr. would sit out. 

Probable XI

Usman Khawaja, Colin Munro, Asif Ali, Brandon King, Shadab Khan (c), Iftikhar Ahmed, Hussain Talat, Muhammad Akhlaq (wk),  Hasan Ali,  Mohammad Wasim Jr, Akif Javed

Dream XI / Fantasy XI

Shan Masood, Mohammad Rizwan (c & wk), Usman Khawaja, Colin Munro, Sohaib Maqsood, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan (vc), Hasan Ali, Imran Tahir, Shahnawaz Dhani, Imran Khan

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PSL 2021 | MS vs LHQ: Dhani dazzles with 4/5 as Qalandars are thrashed to fourth consecutive defeat

Once again Lahore Qalandars boarded the same bus in Abu Dhabi named ‘batting collapse’ as they were all out for 89 one of the lowest totals in the league’s history, trying to chase 170 in a must-win game of the Pakistan Super League 2021. Shahnawaz Dhani was the star of the match with the ball for Multan Sultans, picking four wickets for just five runs. Dhani was helped by some very average batting by the Qalandars which has been continuing since the last four games. With this fourth consecutive defeat, Qalandars ended their 10 match group stage run with five wins and five losses. Just 10 points from 10 games and a run rate that is worst among all the teams in the race for the Playoffs won’t do any good for Lahore as they would now pray for a Quetta Gladiators victory over Karachi Kings on June 19 to help them go through as the fourth-placed team. None of the Lahore batters were up to ask in this game as James Faulkner a bowling all-rounder who batted at number seven was the highest scorer with 22 from 11 balls. The 23-year-old Dhani was adjudged Man of the Match for his brilliant bowling performance. His figures of 4/5 are now the second-best bowling figures of this season and with 18 wickets in just eight innings, he sits at the top of the highest wicket-takers list for this season. Sohail Akhtar, the Qalandars skipper who has failed alongside his team has nothing to say apart from the fact that it’s tough to pinpoint one person or issue when the entire unite fails so miserably. “When our batting flops this horribly it's tough to point fingers at the bowling performance,” he said. Earlier in the evening, it was Sohaib Maqsood and Rilee Rossouw who got Multan Sultans rolling with the bat after both openers in skipper Mohammad Rizwan and last match hero Shan Masood failed. But Qlanadars came back and removed both Rossouw and Maqsood in a short span of time. From 123-3 in the 15th over and eying a total in excess of 180, Sultans suddenly found themselves reeling at 141-8 in the 19th over. Then came the much-needed boost by Sohail Tanvir, who, with his one haded hook, a pull, a straight drive and a Chinese cut, hit two sixes and three fours in the last over of the innings bowled by the quickest man with the ball in hand, Haris Rauf. This totally shifted the momentum back to Sultans which they utilised in their defence of the total. Reacting to the win, Rizwan said, “When the team performs according to the situation your job becomes very easy.” Asked about his plans for the Playoffs, the wicket-keeper batsman diverted the question saying, “You go match by match and ball by ball and not get too ahead of yourself. Just play according to the situation and the rest will take care of itself.” This was Sultans fourth win in a row and with this, they reached 10 points and because of a superior run rate, climbed to the second spot on the points table with a match in hand. Until and unless they lose it by an unimaginably huge margin against Islamabad United in their last league game on Saturday, June 19, Sultans have almost confined their place in the Playoffs.

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