Islamabad United ticket for play-off PSL 2018

Islamabad United punched their ticket for the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) play-offs with a dominant victory over Multan Sultans, despite some late heroics from Kieron Pollard, at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Tuesday night.

Islamabad United, the inaugural champions of the League, won by 33 runs to cruise into the play-offs with two games to spare.

The Multan Sultans still can make it to the play-offs but it is not in their hands now. They completed their 10 fixtures and will now hope that Peshawar Zalmi don’t win their remaining two games against the Karachi Kings and the Lahore Qalandars.

Luke Ronchi scored his third half-century (58) and Englishman Alex Hales parachuted in with a crucial knock as Islamabad United posted 185 for four, the second highest total of this edition.

They fell just three runs short of the highest scored by the Karachi Kings. The Kings had made 188 for three, incidentally against the Multan Sultans, just three days ago in Dubai.

West Indian Kieron Pollard (73 from 47 balls) almost single-handedly pulled off a heist by smashing almost everything in anger after the Multans Sultans had found themselves on the floor.

Burly left-arm spinner Samit Patel had pulled the rug from under the Multan Sultans by removing opener Kumar Sangakkara and Saif Badar off consecutive balls in the first over.

Medium pacers Faheem Ashraf and Amad Butt and leg-spinner Shadab Khan then scythed through the Multan Sultans’ batting line-up.

The defiance from the muscular shoulders of Pollard, who smoked six towering sixes and five boundaries, had left more than few biting their nails. But the wily Mohammad Sami brought his heroics to an end.

Earlier, Ronchi set the wheels in motion for Islamabad United despite a subdued stay from his opening partner JP Duminy.

Ronchi had raced to 38 from just 18 balls when Duminy was run out by Shoaib Malik. But that loss didn’t deter Islamabad United as Alex Hales and Ronchi kept things moving along.

Ronchi and Hales put on a solid foundation for Islamabad United to launch. The pair added 45 runs for the second wicket as Islamabad United neared hundred on the board in half their allotment of overs.

But their ominous partnership was curtailed by Imran Tahir, with the leg-spinner having Ronchi castled. Ronchi’s 58 came from 36 deliveries and was studded with six boundaries and three sixes.

Brief scores:

Islamabad United: 185 for 4 in 20 overs (Luke Ronchi 58, Alex Hales 46, Hussain Talat 36, Asif Ali 17 not out, Faheem Ashraf 13 not out, Umar Gul 2-26) beat Multan Sultans: 152 all out in 19.1 overs (Kieron Pollard 73, Faheem Ashraf 2-27, Amad Butt 2-30, Samit Patel 2-11, Shadab Khan 2-33) by 33 runs.