LAHORE: Multan Sultans skipper Ashton Turner lost by 20 runs to defending champions Lahore Qalandars in a rain-affected 11th match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) at the Gaddafi Stadium on Friday.
The 2021 champions Sultans, who entered on the back of a two-match winning streak, suffered their first defeat in the eight-team competition, which saw them replaced by the Qalandars in the rankings.
After the match was reduced to 13 overs apiece due to a two-hour rain delay, Sultans skipper Turner won the toss and elected to field first – backtracking as their bowling unit took the cleaners to the cleaners and eventually the home side amassed a mammoth total of 185/5.
The Sultans leaked 23 runs, which included 14 wides, two no balls, three leg bags and four bags, eventually proving the difference as they bowled out the Callanders for 20 runs, and their captain Turner admitted their lack of bowling was a “frustrating thing”.
“(We) weren’t at our absolute best in the first half of the game. It was fortunate that we kept fighting,” Turner said in the post-match presentation.
“The frustrating thing is that things like no balls and wides were in our control. We have to sort that out,” he added.
However, the skipper insisted that the defeat was not the end of the world but acknowledged the need for improvement, especially in controlling the opposition while bowling.
“It’s not the end of the world if you lose a game. We have to take good care of ourselves. We have to find a way to control the opposition,” Turner concluded.