ISL vs MUL: Weather Forecast And Pitch Report Of National Stadium, Karachi, PSL 2022- Islamabad United vs Multan Sultans, Pakistan Super League, Match 08

The eighth match of the Pakistan Super League 2022 sees Islamabad United take on Multan Sultans on Tuesday at National Stadium in Karachi. Islamabad United exhibited a sensational performance on the league stage last year.

This year too, they have begun their league stage campaign with a 9-wicket win over Peshawar Zalmi. Islamabad United bowled first in the last game against the Peshawar Zalmi. Hasan Ali and Faheem Ashraf ran through Peshawar Zalmi’s top-order as they later lost 4 wickets for just 35 runs inside the first six overs.

At that stage, it looked like Islamabad United might bundle out Peshawar Zalmi for under 100 runs. However, crucial contributions from Shoaib Malik, Sherfane Rutherford, and Ben Cutting helped the team end their inning at 168 runs in the first innings.

Islamabad United failed to pick wickets in the middle-overs. The team would expect the likes of M Wasim Jr. and Merchant de Lange to exhibit better performance in the next game. Hasan Ali (2 for 34) and Faheem Ashraf (2 for 3), though, would be pretty pleased with their performances.

In response to the score, Paul Sterling and Alex Hales gave the team a rollicking start. Both the players looked to deal in boundaries right from the start of the innings. Out of the first 10 deliveries that Paul Sterling faced, he hit seven of them to the boundaries ropes.

The Irish cricketer brought up his half-century in just 18 deliveries, giving the team just the start that they were looking for. On the other hand, Alex Hales too looked unstoppable as he smashed the bowlers right, left, and centre.

The duo scored 78 runs in the first six overs and then went on to score 112 runs inside the first 10 overs. Paul Sterling got run out in the 10^th over after scoring 57 runs in 25 balls. Alex Hales, however, carried on and played right till the end.

He played an unbeaten match-winning knock of 82 runs in 54 balls, while R Gurbaz too chipped in with valuable 27 runs in 16 balls. As a result of that, Islamabad United chased down the score in 16 overs.

On the other hand, Multan Sultans, too, is riding high on confidence, having won both their first two matches in the tournament. However, they wouldn’t be too pleased with their bowling in the last game.

Multan Sultans conceded 206 runs in the first innings. The bowlers failed to pick a single wicket in the first nine overs. Imran Tahir, once again, came to the rescue and broke the 89-run opening partnership. However, the other bowlers failed to impress. The likes of David Willey (1 for 23 in 3 overs), Imran Khan (0 for 54 in 3.4 overs), S Dahani (1 for 44 in 4 overs) lacked penetration with the ball.

However, despite posting a 206-run total, Multan Sultans managed to chase down the score in 19.4 overs. Multan needed a good start with the bat and the duo amassed a 150-run partnership.

Shan Masood (83 off 50) and M Rizwan (69 off 42) made valuable contributions with the bat. However, once the duo got out, the scoring rate got affected. Both Rilee Rossouw (5) and Tim David (1) got out on low scores.

In the end, 16 runs were needed in the final 6 deliveries. With Haris Rauf bowling the final over, Lahore Qalandars looked for favourites to win the match. However, Khushdil Shah hit 18 runs in the first four deliveries to finish the game with two balls remaining.

ISL vs MUL: Weather Forecast And Pitch Report Of National Stadium, Karachi, PSL 2022- Islamabad United vs Multan Sultans, Pakistan Super League, Match 08

The pitch here at National Stadium is usually good for the batting. The teams batting first usually tend to score big totals on the board. Most of the matches have been high-scoring encounters thus far.

One can expect the upcoming game between Islamabad United and Multan Sultans to be another such affair. Both teams would look to bowl first upon winning the toss, keeping in mind, especially the due factor.