LAHORE: Mohammad Naeem’s magnificent half-century grabbed the attention as defending champions Lahore Qalandars beat Multan Sultans by 20 runs in the rain-shortened 11th match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) at the Gaddafi Stadium on Friday.
Chasing a tough target of 186 in 13 overs, the 2021 champions could only muster 165/5 despite a brilliant cameo from Shaun Masood and an unbeaten half-century from skipper Ashton Turner.
With just 18 runs in 3.5 overs, Sultans started to unravel as they lost Steve Smith (nine) and Josh Phillip (one) to the batting powerplay.
Following an early setback, Masood and the in-form Sahibzada Farhan (24) put together a cautious 32-run partnership for the third wicket, which culminated in the dismissal of Mustafizur Rahman in the sixth over.
Masood, on the other hand, continued his counter-attack until he fell to Rahman in the third ball of the 10th over and went back after scoring 44 off 18 balls with 7 fours and a six.
Following his dismissal, captain Turner and emerging all-rounder Arafat Minhas (25) stitched a brave fifth-wicket partnership of 57 runs before being dismissed by Sikandar Raza on the fourth delivery of the last over.
Turner, on the other hand, batted till the end and scored an unbeaten 52 off 22 balls with 5 sixes and 2 fours, but his efforts were not enough to give Sultans a stunning win, their first loss in the ongoing PSL 11.
Rahman took two wickets conceding 37 runs in his three overs, while Ubaid Shah, Sikandar Raza and captain Shaheen Shah Afridi chipped in with a scalp each.
In a match reduced to 13 overs apiece due to a two-hour rain interruption, Sultans captain Ashton Turner won the toss and elected to field first, but the result backfired as the holders amassed a massive total of 185/5.
The new opening pair of Naeem and Parvez Hossain Emon put on 86 runs in 5 overs as the home side got their innings off to a flying start.
Debutant Muhammad Ismail, who gave away 26 runs in his first over, gave his spell an inauspicious start, cleaning up Emon on the first delivery of the sixth over to give the Sultans a much-needed breakthrough.
The Bangladesh international bounced back after a blistering 19-ball 45 with 5 sixes and 2 fours.
However, his dismissal did not stop the Qalandars’ dominance as Abdullah Shafiq and Naeem put on a blistering 58-run partnership before both were dismissed in successive overs and fell prey to Ismail and Faisal Akram respectively.
Naeem was the top scorer with 60 off 28 balls with 4 sixes and several fours while Shafiq scored 33 off 14 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes.
Peter Siddle dealt another blow to the Kilanders’ rally by cleaning up Rubin Herman (three) in the last over, but Sikandar Raza (13 not out) hit back-to-back fours off the last two balls of the innings to ensure a good result for the three-time champions.
Debutant Ismail took 2 for 47 in his four overs for Sultans, while Siddle and Akram claimed one each.