LAHORE: Four wickets from Faisal Akram, half-centuries from Sahibzada Farhan and Josh Phillip helped leaders Multan Sultans to a comprehensive 7-wicket victory over Rawalpindis.
Chasing a target of 183 runs, Sultans cruised to victory with 3 wickets and 22 balls to spare.
However, the leaders had a mixed start to their pursuit as Mohammad Amir dismissed their in-form opener Steve Smith (five) for just 12 runs in the second over.
But the early setback didn’t bother the Sultans as Farhan and Phillip put on a 110-run partnership for the second wicket to turn the game around.
In the 12th over, he was a notable run-scorer for the Sultans as he thrashed Phillip off a slower delivery, scoring 56 off 30 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes.
Farhan, on the other hand, followed it up after 11 balls and was cleaned up by Mohammad Amir Khan after a Sultans-high 68 off 36 balls with 5 sixes and 4 fours.
Following back-to-back departures from the set batters, captain Ashton Turner and his partner Shaun Masut batted smartly at the back and gloried in an unbeaten 47-run partnership off the second delivery of the 17th over.
Masood remained unbeaten on 27 off 15 balls, while Turner scored an unbeaten 26 off 10 balls.
Among the bowlers, Mohammad Amir took 2 wickets for 32 runs in his 3 overs and Mohammad Amir Khan took one wicket.
Batting first, the seventh-ranked team posted 182/8 in 20 overs despite Faisal Akram’s four wickets.
The Bindis got off to a shaky start to their innings when Muhammad Ismail dismissed opener Yasir Khan (five) for just 15 in the third over.
After an early stumble, Kamran Ghulam joined captain Rizwan (19) in the middle and the duo batted smartly to add 33 runs for the second wicket.
Ghulam then put on a brief partnership with Abdullah Fazal (14) and Daryl Mitchell (17) before Faisal was eventually dismissed in the 10th over to go on to score 35 off 24 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes.
His dismissal paved the way for Sam Billings to come out to bat at number 6 and the wicketkeeper batsman battled valiantly to add valuable runs to his unbeaten 56 off 34 balls with 7 fours and a six.
He shared a 33-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Dion Forrester, who scored 24 runs off 11 balls with three sixes.
Akram led the Sultans’ bowling charge with frugal figures of 4/31 from his four overs, followed by Minhas with two wickets, while Peter Siddle and Ismail chipped in with a scalp each.