Islamabad United have clinched the title of PSL season 9, after beating Multan Sultans by 2 wickets in the National Bank Stadium, Karachi in a nail-biting match on Monday.
Shadab Khan-led Islamabad, who have now won their third PSL title, adding to their title wins in 2016 and 2018, have rewritten the record books as the most successful team in the event’s history.
Subsequently, Multan Sultans, led by Muhammad Rizwan, have lost the last 3 finals. In 2022 & 2023 finals, Multan were beaten by the Lahore Qalanders.
The target of 160 runs was achieved by Islamabad United on the last delivery of their innings at the loss of eight wickets.
The game was decided on the last ball when Hunain Shah took the bat with one run to spare on the last ball. The young pacer, who was quite clever at recognizing the gap at point, smashed the ball for a four.
Islamabad lost three wickets in the powerplay and were 55-3 after which their most experienced batter Martin Guptill and Azam Khan stitched an important 47-run partnership that helped them retain the driving position.
However, Guptill was run out after making 50 runs on 32 balls in the 12.5 overs due to a small misunderstanding with Azam and as a result, their team was 102-4.
Then as Azam looked back at the pavilion, Imad Wasim, the hero of the eliminators, and Naseem Shah stepped down the order to contribute with their valuable contributions, scoring 19 and 17 runs respectively.
In the Sultans’ first innings, Mohammad Rizwan was bowled by Naseem Shah but he got another chance as the bowler was disqualified for going outside the crease.
Except for Sultans, who didn’t get much space to play on as Imad Wasim removed the in-form Yasir Khan and David Willey in the second over.
The wickets continued to fall with the dismissal of Rizwan but Usman remained on the field and was relentless in his attack on Islamabad’s bowlers. The UAE international was out after his half-century. Shadab Khan took him out for just 57 runs on 40 balls.
It seemed like the Sultans would not reach the 130-run target as they had lost nine wickets for the score of 127 in 18 overs but Iftikhar survived till the end and helped Rizwan’s team to post a competitive score.
Iftikhar showed his skills in the last overs when he completed his short cameo scoring 32 runs with the aid of 4 fours and as many sixes in 20 balls, when he was 33.
For Imad, the Islamabad player, his five-wicket haul was a first-time achievement in the PSL final.
