Multan Sultans 167 for 4 (Smith 56, Turner 37*, Afridi 2-28) beat Rawalpindiz 166 for 4 (Mitchell 58*, Forrester 37*, Imran 1-9) by six wickets
Multan Sultans put themselves on the cusp of playoff qualification by beating this season's whipping boys, Rawalpindiz, inflicting an eighth successive defeat on Mohammad Rizwan's men. After a stuttering innings kept on a leash by Sultans' bowlers until the final five overs, Rawalpindiz only managed to put up 166 on a flat wicket. It proved too little for a Sultans side that kept up with the chase throughout their innings, spearheaded by a destructive 31-ball half-century from Steven Smith. At the end, captain Ashton Turner was a calming presence ensuring that even though the game went to the penultimate over, the outcome was never in jeopardy.
Rawalpindiz opted to bat first and immediately found themselves in bother, muddling through the powerplay as though stuck in treacle. The first five overs saw just 19 scored with Rizwan's side having already lost two, while the captain himself was battling through another ineffectual innings, perhaps ended far too late, when he wandered aimlessly down the crease to Arafat Minhas and ended up stumped. He had scored 26 in 29 balls.
Daryl Mitchell has endured struggles of his own this tournament, but he was more sprightly, acting as useful foil in Sam Billings' and Dian Forrester's slipstream. His unbeaten 58 off 46, combined with a blazing finish from Forrester, who smashed an undefeated 37 in 15, saw Rawalpindiz score 61 off the final five and give an enfeebled bowling attack something to defend.
In Sahibzada Farhan and Smith, Sultans had the firepower up top not to mess up their own powerplay, and the Australian ensured just that. Three boundaries off Ben Sears got him going, and he shrugged off Farhan's dismissal and a pair of tight Mohammad Amir overs to wallop another 12 off Sears again in the final powerplay over. But he saved the best for a catastrophic ninth over for Rawalpindiz, with a boundary and three consecutive sixes that saw the asking rate come whistling down to 7.54. He kept up the attack in the second half of the innings, hitting successive boundaries against Asif Afridi to bring up a 27-ball half-century.
Smith and Josh Philippe were sent back within six balls of each other soon after, which gave Rawalpindiz a sniff, but, in truth, not much more than that. Shan Masood and Turner coolly absorbed the pressure in the following few overs before Turner picked his moment to target Amir with three consecutive boundaries in the 17th over. It brought the equation down to 14 off 18. Masood fell before the target was reached, and the winning runs came with a wayward leg-side ball that trickled away for two wides. That damp finish just about sums up Rawalpindiz' campaign while Sultans cement their hold over second place.
