Multan Sultans 122 for 4 (Siddiq 46, Vince 28) beat Islamabad United 121 (Ronchi 32, Christian 3-19) by six wickets

How the game played out

Multan Sultans swept the season series with Islamabad United in dominant fashion, chasing down a target of 122 with ease in a six-wicket win in Dubai. Sultans snapped a three-match losing streak in the process while United's two-match winning streak also came to a close.
United raced out of the gates with a sharp Powerplay total of 45 for three, but once Luke Ronchi fell in the fifth over, their innings struggled to get any momentum. Dan Christian followed up a fantastic effort for a relay catch on the boundary with wickets in back-to-back balls in the 16th to help wipe out the United tail as they were eventually bowled out in just 17.4 overs.
Umar Siddiq and James Vince knocked off nearly half the runs required in the Powerplay alone. Sultans coasted the rest of the way, content to secure points first rather than achieving a major net run-rate boost. When Siddiq finally fell for a 45-ball 46 in the 15th over, just 23 were needed for victory and the Sultans eventually got across the line with 11 balls to spare.
Dan Christian picked up three wickets
Dan Christian picked up three wicketsPSL

Turning points

  • Luke Ronchi had scored 32 of the first 42 runs in United's innings - at a strike rate of 200 - but his charge down the pitch in the fifth over to Mohammad Ilyas resulted in a mistimed drive to long-on, sparking a slide where they lost eight wickets for 79 runs.
  • Samit Patel was the only other player in the top half of the United order to get a start, but threw his wicket away for 20 charging Shahid Afridi to end the 12th as Christian and Vince produced a superb tag-team relay catch at long-off. When Wayne Parnell was bounced out five balls later by Mohammad Irfan to make it 76 for six, United had little chance of posting a competitive score.

    • Star of the day

    Christian had a solid all-round day. After claiming 3 for 19 off just ten balls, including being on a hat-trick at one point, he entered at the fall of Siddiq's wicket and helped ice the chase for Sultans by stroking an unbeaten 16 off nine balls.

    The big miss

    Johnson Charles gave a limp wave at a Shadab Khan googly to be trapped lbw in the eighth over of the Sultans chase. Charles walked off immediately without giving a moment of thought to review the decision by Ahsan Raza. It might have helped.

    Where the teams stand

    Sultans are now equal with Lahore Qalandars and Karachi Kings, but ahead of both on net run-rate, to sit at fourth. United remain in third place on six points, having missed a chance to create a two-way tie for first with Quetta Gladiators.