Smith, Turner put Sultans on doorstep of qualification
It was another feeble performance from Rawalpindiz, who lost their eighth game in a row
It was another feeble performance from Rawalpindiz, who lost their eighth game in a row
Scorer: Harshith Gowda | Commentator: Ahsan Iftikhar Nagi
This brings an end to our coverage of match 31 of the PSL2026. I hope you all enjoyed it. Join us again tomorrow as it promises to be another action-packed day of cricket with another double-header.
Till then, it is goodbye and goodnight from Harshith Gowda and my side.
Ashton Turner: We feel like we have started to put together some complete performances. Our bowling attack in particular was excellent and it was well supported in the field, which gave us a total that we felt was chase-able. [On the prospect of finishing in top two] History would suggest that across all competitions, particularly in franchised T20 cricket, that the teams that eventually hold the trophies are generally teams that finish in the top two and get an easier path through to the final. So clearly, you want to be one of those two teams, as does the seven other teams in this competition, so we are no different.
Mohammad Rizwan: We had targeted 170 on this pitch, but credit to Steve Smith for his [match winning] innings. We had them under pressure, but it was his knock which took them over the line. We are looking for a win despite losing eight out of eight. We are making mistakes and at times things are also not going in our favour, like a dropped catch today. We will try to win our next match against Islamabad United.
Steven Smith is the player match for his 56 off 31 balls which included five fours and three sixes
Steven Smith: It was quite a tricky wicket. There was a bit of skid, a bit of stop, and some spin at times. I was just trying to navigate that by spending a bit of time out there and when the matchup suited, I tried my best to take it down. I was trying to find the middle of the bat as much as I could and it was nice to find it on a few occasion and get us in front of the scoring rate. But. a lot of credit has to go to our bowlers. I thought they did a really good job to get us in a position where we were chasing 167.
Rawalpindiz' abysmal run in the PSL 2026 continues as they lose yet another match. This is their eighth defeat on trot and Rizwan's 18th in the last 19 matches as a captain in the PSL. A sparkling half-century from Steven Smith never opened the door for Rawalpindiz to get in the game. Ashton Turner and Shan Masood made handy contributions in the latter half of the run chase as Sultans overhauled the target with seven balls spare.
Rawalpindiz may have hoped that this match would turn out differently for them after a late order blitz from Forrester added 42 runs in the last three overs. But, their strike bowlers in Mohammad Amir and Asif Afridi largely remained ineffective and despite the early wicket of Sahibzada Farhan, Sultans walked towards the target with ease due to the lack of scoreboard pressure.
Zeeshan Ahmed: "Love the Pindiz' game spirit this season. Gave free points to each team they played! "
Arafat Minhas walks in at six. 10 off 11 needed.
Shan Masood c Mohammad Rizwan b Razaullah 20 (38m 22b 1x4 0x6) SR: 90.9
Jahangir Aslam: "Pindiz repetitive defeat is due to their prime batsman (Rizwan) and Prime bowler (Amir) are not performing."
Razaullah to bowl, right-arm around
Malik M Faisal : "where is the buddy, who's 6th sense showing pindi winner today.." -- hahaha!
ESPNcricinfo has learned the positive result comes from testing during T20 World Cup earlier this year
It was another feeble performance from Rawalpindiz, who lost their eighth game in a row