Sultans withstand late charge to deny Karachi Kings

Multan Sultans withstood a late charge from Karachi Kings to secure an 11-run victory, marking their fifth win in PSL 2026. The Kings suffered their fourth loss of the tournament.

Opting to bowl first, Kings struck early, dismissing Steve Smith for a duck in the second over. A slow Powerplay for Multan turned around dramatically when Josh Philippe and Awais Zafar hammered 25 runs off an Abbas Afridi over, followed by boundaries in the final over of the Powerplay. Only 33 runs came from the first four overs, but 36 came in the next two.

Kings needed Khushdil Shah to break the dangerous partnership, but Shan Masood piled on the pressure. Even when Khushdil returned to take another wicket, Masood smashed two sixes to end the over strongly.

Sultans had multiple contributors, though no one posted a substantial score. With Masood departing for 46 and skipper Ashton Turner struggling, timely boundaries from the lower order pushed the total beyond 200.

Arafat Minhas struck early in the chase, dismissing Jason Roy just as he looked set. The Powerplay belonged to Sultans as Minhas removed Salman Agha, followed by a wicket from Peter Siddle.

Reeza Hendricks and Moeen Ali steadied the innings, but the required rate climbed. Moeen broke free with two sixes off Siddle but was dismissed by Turner in the next over. Needing 71 from the final five overs with five wickets left, the game seemed over for Kings.

However, Afridi and Hasan Ali launched a boundary-hitting spree, causing concern in the Sultans' camp. The assault brought the equation down to 23 off 12 balls before Siddle removed the dangerous Afridi in the penultimate over, applying pressure to clinch the win.

Brief scores: Multan Sultans 207/7 in 20 overs (Shan Masood 46, Josh Philippe 44; Khushdil Shah 3/35) beat Karachi Kings 196 in 19.4 overs (Reeza Hendricks 49, Abbas Afridi 34; Arafat Minhas 3/32, Peter Siddle 2/28) by 11 runs.