Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

Managed to catch my first match today.

After Quetta beat Islamabad yesterday and Karachi beat Peshawar this morning it was the turn of Multan to conquer Lahore to gain their first win of the season.

Imran Tahir strangled the Lahore batsmen to the lowest score of the tournament so far - 138-8. A total that was chased down in 16.1 overs.

Despite having the best batsmen in the game in the form of Mohammad Hafeez and two bowlers with three wickets or more, Lahore still managed to lose their game against Islamabad in a final over thriller.

The balance of the game swung back and forth throughout the innings. After Hafeez's 98* it seemed that Lahore were the obvious victors but Islamabad kept their nerve despite regular wickets falling and eked over the required 182 with one ball remaining.

Islamabad are now joint top with two wins and a loss whilst Lahore are rock bottom with two losses.

Moeen Ali was the star of the show as Multan beat Karachi by 52 runs.

Ali lead from the front with a score of 65 to see Nulram to 186-6. Karachi, the PSL's RCB, never looked in the chase and were all out within seventeen overs.

The win took Multan to joint top alongside Quetta whilst Karachi are second bottom with one win from three games.

Fairly even competition this year. After Karachi's win today against Peshawar, 5 of the six teams are all within 3 points of the top spot....Lahore are winless.

In today's match, it was the bowling of Mohammad Amir that held Peshawar to a gettable total. He never looked back after getting two wickets in his first three deliveries and ended with 4-25 which limited the North-Western franchise to 151 - a total that Karachi managed within 18 overs. Karachi are now joint second, whilst Peshawar are joint third.

Tomorrow Quetta have a chance to join Multan at the top of the table with a win against bottom of the table Lahore.

Shows what I know.....Lahore didn't just beat Quetta - they dismantled them.

93 from Ben Dunk - whose previous highest score in 2020 was 14 - helped Lahore to a huge 209-5. The Aussie's innings included ten sixes and he ended with a strike rate of 216.27.

Quetta were never even close to in it and were all out for 172 off the last delivery of the game.

Lahore are still two wins away from climbing off the bottom of the table but will look to keep up their momentum against Islamabad tomorrow.

In what seems a crazy turn of events even for T20 cricket, Peshawar won their game against Quetta despite the announcement just before the game that their captain had become their head coach and their head coach had become the director of cricket. Most unusual.

On the field, a strong batting line up managed to quell a decent series Quetta bowling attack which boasted 4-34 from Mohammad Hasnain. Their total of 170 - primarily from the middle order - was more than enough to make the last half of Quetta's rain affected innings a sideshow.

James Vince put on one of the biggest hitting performances I have ever seen today as he hit a 24 ball 61 in a 9 over shoot out against Islamabad....and that was a slow down from being 46 off 14 balls at one point.

Multan extended their lead at the top of the PSl with this win.

This competition is throwing up a lot of matches whereby the team with the strongest batsman tend not to go on and win the game.

This time it was Peshawar's Haider Ali - who is having a very strong competition from relative obscurity - who got the most runs in the game. However his team's 187 was chased down with just one ball to spare.

Lahore have now won four games in a row after only winning 1 of their first 6 and find themselves (miraculously} in third position.

The much awaited final is now between Karachi and Lahore on Tuesday.

Haris Rauf was the star of the 2nd eliminator with three wickets as they limited Multan to just 157 in their chase of 182

Yet another half century for Azam took Karachi to the title with ease over Lahore