PSL 2022 | Multan secure playoffs spot after late revival against Karachi

Multan Sultans became the first team in the Pakistan Super to reach the playoffs this season after a tight win against Karachi Kings on Wednesday, 16 February.

It was agonisingly close for Karachi on the day as they lost their control over the opponents in the final six overs of the game and let them run away. The loss promoted a series of responses in the social media stating that it could only have been the Babar Azam-led team that could have lost the game from a comfortable position.

Defending a decent total of 174 runs, Karachi kept the lid on Multan Sultans for a very long time, choking out the two openers in Shan Masood and the prolific Mohammad Rizwan.

A struggling innings from Multan openers

The pair batted together till the 14th over of the game, but managed to only score 99 runs at a run rate of just 7.07. Looking at the building required rate, Shan Masood knew that he had to cut loose but got out trying to do that in the second ball of the 15th over and it felt like Multan were in grave trouble. Masood scored a struggling 45 off 41 balls - an innings that had six boundaries.

As Masood left, the onus put on Riwaz who had gotten up to a 47-ball 52 at that point. Knowing that he could not wait any longer, Rizwan went after Umaid Asif, throwing his bat at everything. He scored 18 off the 16th over.

His luck ran out in the very next over and he got out to Chris Jordan trying to slash one hard over cover point. But by that time Rizwan had accelerated at 260 SR after getting his half century and laid the foundation for the rest of the guys.

At the time of getting out, Rizwan had scored 76 off 56 and Multan needed 45 off the last 20 balls.

And that’s where it showed, the batting depth the squad carries with them.

The turnaround

The last three batsmen that walked out scored at an excess of 180 SR to balance out the scales for the team. First, Tim David played a cameo of 13 off 7 deliveries, hitting Jordan for two boundaries the second he walked in.

Once he was removed from the game, Khushdil Shah and Rilee Rossouw took it to the opposition, smashing 20 runs from the penultimate over.

Chris Jordan who had just given 15 off his first two in the early stages of the innings, got the game turned on its head after Rizwan and the Multan lower order attacked him in the 16th and the 19th over respectively.

He finished the game with 50 off his four overs and was a big reason behind Multan’s turnaround in the game.

9 off the last 6 deliveries was never going to be a problem for Multan as Russouw finished the game with a huge over mid wicket.

Similar themes for Karachi

Earlier in the first innings, Karachi struggled to get going for the first 10 overs. Babar Azam had yet another poor outing on the day, getting out on 2 runs off four balls in the second over. He had hoped that DRS would save him from the LBW appeal, but that did not turn out to be the case. On the other end, Sharjeel Khan had an off day as well, batting at a strike rate of 80 for the larger part of his innings.

Half through their batting effort it never looked like Karachi could actually score big in the game, given they were struggling at 67/1. Things sunk further with Joe Clarke getting out at 40 off 29 while trying to accelerate the run rate, and Karachi were stuck at 77/2 at that point. 

Strong finish

With acceleration being the need of the hour, young Rohail Nazir played a cameo of 21 off 12 to begin the counter attacking process. The young right hander got out trying to cut Blessing Muzarabani and in the 15th over but by then the game had shifted the momentum. Imad Wasim took it on from there and he along with Mohammad Nabi posted 56 runs in the last 5 overs to take Karachi to a respectable score.

Multan did not win; Karachi lost

The game was as much Multan’s win as it was Karachi’s loss. The Babar Azam side was better for most part of the day, barring the final four overs that took the game away from them.

With the loss, Karachi have now lost 8 in a row and this tournament might soon turn them against one another. On the other hand, joy was visible on Rizwan’s face after the win but he admitted in the post match interview that Multan were very lucky as they did not deserve to win the game.

With two more games left to go before the playoffs stages, this win sets Multan perfectly before the walk into the knockout stage of the tournament, while Karachi will still be looking for answers to the question that they have not been able to solve throughout the tournament.