Yasir Khan's blistering 87 helps Multan Sultans open their account

Multan Sultans finally got their PSL 2025 campaign off the ground, brushing Lahore Qalandars aside by 33 runs. In the first game at home on a stiflingly hot evening in Multan, Yasir Khan's blistering 87 off 44 balls at the top gave his side an eay advantage they never relinquished. Iftikhar Ahmed's unbeaten 40 from 18 deliveries and cameos through the innings helped Sultans post 228 - the highest-ever score in Multan in the PSL.

Qalandars never batted at the tempo needed to overhaul a total of that size, and Sultans' bowlers were far more unerring in their execution. Michael Bracewell and Ubaid Shah found wickets up top as no Qalandars batter converted a start, and the innings petered out, stopping at 195 for 9.

For Sultans, their opening pair of Yasir and Mohammad Rizwan began brightly, going after Shaheen Shah Afridi in his first two overs. But it was the takedown of Zaman Khan and Haris Rauf that set the tone. Bowling the fifth over, Zaman was plundered for three sixes and a boundary by Yasir. In the sixth, Rizwan picked off Rauf's hard lengths at will, smashing him for 20 as Sultans soared to 79 in the powerplay.

Asif Afridi, the only bowler who kept Sultans quiet, got rid of Rizwan, but Yasir kept powering along. He brought up his half-century with a six off Rishad Hossain, before he and Usman Khan went after Daryl Mitchell. Meanwhile, Rauf's return only brought more misery upon Qalandars as Usman smashed him for another 19 runs; all told, Rauf would conceded 54 in his three overs.

When Shaheen returned to bowl the final over, it was Iftikhar who found his range, taking 14 off a wayward over as Sultans surged to 228. Shaheen, Haris and Zaman, once the pride of Qalandars' attack, had combined to concede 119 runs in eight overs.

Sultans have failed to defend a higher total than this, but if Qalandars were to have a hope, they needed a vintage start from Fakhar Zaman. Initially, they appeared to get it when the opener went after David Willey, taking 30 runs off his first two overs, before smearing the parsimonious Bracewell for a six. In Ubaid's first over, though, Fakhar heaved one that sailed above the Multan floodlights, but Josh Little held his nerve to cling on to a superb catch to cut his cameo down at 32 off 14 balls.

Abdullah Shafique and Mitchell tried to keep the game alive through an enterprising third-wicket partnership that produced 36 from 22 deliveries. But the demands of the asking rate were much too stratospheric. Sultans responded with a triple strike to remove the pair as well as Rishad, thus leaving Sam Billings and Sikandar Raza as the final hopes for Qalandars.

Billings was finding the middle of the bat, going after Little in an 11th over that produced 16 runs and brought the asking rate to just over 13 runs an over. Ubaid, too, went for a pair of sixes in the 15th over. But, crucially, Ubaid had the last laugh off the final delivery. Billings tried to heave over midwicket, but top-edged to Kamran Ghulam. Ubaid, meanwhile, comically struck Usman in the face as he celebrated his third wicket with a bit too much exuberance.

The game, though, was done and dusted. Raza hung around and slapped a few huge sixes to bring the margin of defeat down, and off the final ball of the innings, brought up a 27-ball fifty. But Qalandars' hope of victory had long dissipated, and the Multan crowd got to see their side launch a campaign that may just be taking off.