Multan Sultans complete record-breaking demolition of Quetta Gladiators

Shan Masood, Mohammad Rizwan and Rilee Rossouw each scored a half-century as Multan Sultans posted 245 for 3, the second-highest total in PSL history, before Quetta Gladiators were bowled out for just 128 runs

Lahore: Multan Sultans 245-3, Quetta Gladiators 128 – Multan Sultans won by 117 runs

Multan Sultans extended their lead at the top of the table to six points with a record-breaking victory over Quetta Gladiators.

The defending champions defeated the fifth-placed Gladiators by 117 runs – the largest winning margin in PSL history – following a dominant performance with bat and ball.

Shan Masood, Mohammad Rizwan and Rilee Rossouw each scored a half-century as the Sultans posted 245 for 3 from their 20 overs, the second-highest total in PSL history and their fourth 200-plus knock of the season. Quetta then collapsed from 96 for 5 to 128 all out.

Lahore Qalandars and Peshawar Zalmi are now assured of playoff qualification while Quetta Gladiators need the Qalandars to defeat Islamabad United on February 19 to have any hope of a top-four finish.

Batting first, Masood and Rizwan made a blistering start to the innings, sharing a 119-run opening stand off 72 balls before Mohammad Irfan bowled the former for 57 (38) in the 12th over.

^{Shahnawaz Dahani celebrates the wicket of Umar Akmal [Arif Ali/AFP via Getty Images]}

However, the wicket did nothing to stop Multan’s scoring, with Rossouw bringing up his half-century off just 20 balls and eventually reaching 71 off 26 as he and Rizwan added a further 103 runs off just 39 balls for the second wicket.

The South African blasted nine fours and four sixes in his monster knock, sparing no bowler before eventually being removed by Naseem Shah (caught Iftikar Ahmed) in the penultimate over.

Rizwan added a further 23 runs off the remaining 11 balls alongside Khushdil Shah and Tim David to push his side beyond 240 and finish unbeaten on 83 (54).

Irfan was the only bowler to concede fewer than 10 runs per over, finishing with figures of 1 for 28.

In reply, David Willey had a hand in the first three wickets, dismissing Will Smeed (1) and Jason Roy (38) either side of taking the catch to remove Ahsan Ali as Quetta slipped to 58 for 3 inside the powerplay.

Umar Akmal (50 off 23) offered some resistance alongside Iftikhar and later Sarfaraz Ahmed but when he was removed by Imran Tahir (caught Shahnawaz Dahani) in the 10th over, it sparked a collapse which saw the final six wickets fall for just 32 runs in the space of 6.3 overs.

Dahani and Khushdil Shah each picked up two wickets during this period while Ghulam Mudassar was runout by Masood and Tahir.

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