ISLAMABAD: Defending champions Multan Sultans defeated Peshawar Zalmi by 42 runs in their sixth consecutive victory in the Pakistan Super League Twenty20 cricket contest which resumed in Lahore on Thursday.
Earlier, Peshawar won the toss and invited the rival team to bat. After playing 20 over, Multan scored 182 at the loss of 7 wickets.
Shan Masood (68) and Mohammad Rizwan (34) put on a 98-run opening stand before losing the first wicket in the 12th over.
Masood impressed with a solid strike rate of 138.78 before he was sent back to the pavilion in the 15th over when Sultans were on 131.
Tim David (34) and Rilee Rossouw (15) accelerated the pace of the innings with blistering strike rates, but their departure in the 17th and 18th overs made it difficult for other batters to set a bigger target for Zalmi.
Rossouw's wicket fell on 161 while David was sent back on 169.
Peshawar's Saqib Mahmood, Wahab Riaz and Salman Irshad took two wickets each. Multan's Anwar Ali was run out by Sherfane Rutherford in the 18th over.
Peshawar needed 183 to beat Multan but lost two quick wickets in the first over.
Shoaib Malik turned out to be the top Zalmi batter who scored 44 off 31 deliveries. However, other Peshawar players could not stabilize the innings and the team lost all its wickets on 140 runs in the 19th over.
With the loss of another match, Zalmi continue to be at number 5 on the PSL points table.
The Sultans, on the other hand, have their tails up since skipper Rizwan has led them to six victories in a row.
Multan will now play Lahore Qalandars in another exciting PSL match on Friday.