PSL | Usman Khan headlines Multan carnage to hand Lahore massive sixth defeat on the trot

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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Multan Sultans posted the highest total in PSL 2024 so far on the back of Usman Khan's marauding 96 before Usama Mir scalped six to defeat Lahore Qalandars at the Gadaffi Stadium. The hosts remained bottom of the table with zero points while the Sultans cemented their top spot with a fifth win.

Brief score: MS 214/4 (20) [Usman 96(55), Iftikhar 40*(18); Afridi 2/39 (4)] defeat LQ 154 (17) [Sahibzada 31(21), Rassie 30(22); Mir 6/40 (4)] by 60 runs

Lahore Qalandars' Shaheen Afridi got his side off to a dream start by dispatching counterpart Mohammad Rizwan for a five-ball duck in the first over with an exhibition of swing bowling. However, that is where the side's bowling efforts peaked as Reeza Hendricks and Usman Khan took them to the cleaners thereon to race to 53/1 at the end of the powerplay. Even after Sikandar Raza ended the rapid 70-run stand by dismissing the Proteas for a 27-ball 40, Usman showed no signs of slowing down and brought up a 31-ball half-century with the scorecard reading 117/2 after 12 overs. Tayyab Tahir added to the hosts' misery with a quickfire 14-ball cameo of 21 runs and while the Qalandars hoped for respite after Carlos Brathwaite had him holed out at the end of the 15th over, the wicket only unleashed Iftikhar Ahmed's fury in the death overs. The lethal finished took charge thereon to smash two fours and three maximums in his unbeaten blitzkrieg of 40, leaving Usman little time to get to the three-figure mark. The Emirati batter consequently top-edged a ball to deep point in the final over four runs short of a third T20 century but the effort nevertheless helped set a dominant target of 215.

Lahore got off to a relatively tame start in response but two boundaries each by the in-form Sahibzada Farhan and Fakhar Zaman in the fifth over saw them shoot past 50. However, the duo departed in the space of six balls either side of the powerplay to hand the momentum back to last year's runners-up and the defending champions never managed to recover thereafter. A slump in scoring rate saw the required run rate climb past 12 Kamran Ghulam to go big and hand a maiden wicket to Faisal Akram. Sikandar Raza's attempted onslaught with two quick sixes also succumbed to the debutant spinner's wiliness, paving the path for the Usama Mir show. The wrist-spinner opened his tally with Afridi's scalp, got rid of the South African duo of Rassie van der Dussen and George Linde as well as Jahandad Khan in his ensuing over, and became the first bowler to register a six-fer in the PSL by cleaning up the tail to seal a 60-run win.

He is a real entertainer

Losing again

2 wickets for him

Poor fielding again

Homeboy

So far

Magnificent

Eid for them

Just vibing

Put the sound

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