Usama Mir’s outstanding performance and Yasir Khan’s smooth fifty propelled Multan Sultans to a win over Peshawar Zalmi in the PSL 9 qualifier.
Zalmi chose to bat after winning the toss at Karachi’s National Stadium on Thursday. The Sultans, last year’s finalists, faced Babar Azam’s Zalmi in this semi-final. David Willey of the Sultans dismissed Saim Ayub early, shaking Zalmi’s start.
Babar and Mohammad Haris steadied the innings, but Haris dismissed as Zalmi passed fifty. The team’s score progressed, with Babar and Tom Kohler-Cadmore reaching a hundred before Chris Jordan’s precise yorker took Babar out.
Mir dismissed Cademore at 24 in the sixteenth, slowing Zalmi’s scoring. Rovman Powell’s brief effort ended by Jordan in the eighteenth. Luke Wood scored 12 off Abbas Afridi in the nineteenth, and Jordan’s tight final over set Zalmi at 146.
Yasir Khan and Mohammad Rizwan opened for the Sultans, quickly attacking, with Yasir hitting Mehran Mumtaz for six early. Their partnership quickly reduced the needed rate, but Rizwan fell to Ayub. Yasir reached a fifty off 30 balls before Mumtaz dismissed him at 54. The game tightened after Salman Irshad removed Johnson Charles, but Iftikhar Ahmed’s hitting eased the Sultans’ chase.
The Sultans secured their final spot in PSL 9 with eight needed from the penultimate over.
Mir earned Player of the Match for his two wickets at an economy of four. Zalmi will next face the winner of the eliminator between Islamabad United and Quetta Gladiators.
