Cricket Highlights, 24 Jun: PSL 2021 (Final), ENG vs SL (2nd T20I)

The final of the PSL 6 between Multan Sultans and Peshawar Zalmi and the 2nd T20I between England and Sri Lanka rolled on the field yesterday. Let’s have a glimpse over the article to know about the interesting happenings of the matches.

PSL 2021 Final (Multan Sultans vs Peshawar Zalmi)

Multan Sultans have clinched the title of the 6th edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The team won the title for the first time, defeating Peshawar Zalmi by 47 runs.

In the final held in Abu Dhabi on Thursday night, Multan Sultans collected a hefty total of 206 runs for 4 wickets in 20 overs. Peshawar Zalmi’s target was 207 runs. In reply, Peshawar managed to score 159 runs for 9 wickets. As a result, Peshawar Zalmi lost by 47 runs.

Rizwan and Shan Masood gave Multan a great start while batting after losing the toss. After a pair of 68 runs, Masood returned with 37 runs from 29 balls. Rizwan also returned with 30 runs for the team’s 83 runs. However, Rilee Rossouw and Sohaib Maqsood raised a storm with their bats. Although Rossouw returned after playing an innings of 50 off 21 balls, Maqsood remained unbeaten in a stormy inning of 65 off 35 balls.

Kamran Akmal made a great start to chase the run. He made a pair of 42 runs with Zazai. Zazai returned only 6 runs, and played a great role to bring Peshawar to the final. Jonathan Wells returned with just 5 runs off 13 balls. After a while, Akmal also returned with 36 runs off 28 balls. Then Shoaib Malik and Rovman Powell tried. Malik could not go very far even after getting a life for 16 runs. He had to return with 48 runs from 28 balls. Powell also returned before him.

Then Imran Tahir took full control of the match for Multan by taking 3 wickets in one over. In the end, Peshawar’s innings stopped at 159 runs. As a result, Peshawar Zalmi lost the match by a margin of 47 runs.

Scoreboard:
Multan Sultans – 206/4 (20.0)
Peshawar Zalmi – 159/9 (20.0)
Result – Multan Sultans won by 47 runs
Player of the Match – Sohaib Maqsood
Player of the Series – Sohaib Maqsood

England won the second T20I match of the series by 5 wickets on Thursday night and also clinched the 3-match series title with one match in hand.

Batting first in the match, Sri Lanka lost 7 wickets in 20 overs and managed to score only 111 runs. In response, it rained after 12 overs of England’s innings. They were given a new target of 103 runs in 18 overs. Which was chased down by them before 11 balls remained.

After winning the toss and opting to bat first, Sri Lanka started losing wickets regularly. Vice-captain Kushal Mendis scored the highest 39 runs for the visitors with the bat. Captain Kushal Perera collected 21 runs. The third-wicket partnership of these two came with 50 runs for the team. Isuru Udana made 19 runs off 14 balls in the end. Adil Rashid and Mark Wood took two wickets each for the hosts and Sam Curran and Chris Jordan took one wicket each.

Chasing a small target, England lost 4 wickets for just 36 runs and initially fell under pressure. Jason Roy 17, Eoin Morgan 11, Johnny Bairstow 0, and Dawid Malan returned scoring 4 runs. After that, Sam Billings (24 off 29 balls), Liam Livingstone (29 off 26 balls), and Sam Curran (16 off 8 balls) were helpful to take the team towards victory. England won the match in 16.1 overs and thanks to these three.

Scoreboard:
Sri Lanka – 111/7 (20.0)
England – 108/5 (16.1) – Due to rain (DLS target-103)
Result – England won by 5 wickets
Player of the Match – Liam Livingstone

Multan Sultans have clinched their maiden PSL title win. With lot more international cricket going on, predict the winners of them and play on Baji!