Afridi, Malik guide Sultans to first win of the tournament

Ball-by-ball clips & scorecard: Islamabad United vs Multan Sultans, 4th match, Dubai

Veterans Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi guided Multan Sultans to a five-wicket win over Islamabad United in the fourth match of the Pakistan Super League 2019.

After winning the toss and electing to bowl first, Multan Sultans restricted Islamabad United to 125/7 with Ali Shafiq, Shahid Afridi and Andre Russell doing most of the damage to the opposition.

Afridi was impressive during his four-over spell as he unleashed all his bag of tricks against the opposition. He got the better of Phil Salt with a seam-up delivery, which struck the top of leg-stump as the batsman had shuffled across his stumps.

Luke Ronchi was the only batsman to show some fight at the top of the order with his 33-ball 51. His quick fire innings included five sixes and only one four before he was caught on the boundary off Afridi’s bowling.

In reply, Multan too find the going tough before skipper Malik took the responsibility upon himself by scoring an undefeated 29-ball 31 which had two sixes.

With 12 runs needed off the last two overs, Afridi, who finished with eight-ball 16 not out struck two sixes off Waqas Maqsood to seal the match.

Leg-spinner Shadab Khan was the pick of Islamabad bowlers with 2-20 and also effected a run out of Shan Masood who made 20-ball 26 with four boundaries.

Ali Shafiq earned man of the match award for his superb figures, using all sorts of variations to outfox the batsmen.

Gallery: Multan Sultans edge Islamabad United to open their account