Multan Sultans captain Mohammad Rizwan admitted the way Mohammad Hafeez handled the pressure in the final of the Pakistan Super League at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore on Sunday was the turning point of the game.
Lahore Qalandars got off to a poor start as they lost three early wickets after Shaheen Shah Afridi won the toss and decided to bat first.
Qalandars were reeling at 25-3 after 4.2 overs however Mohammad Hafeez was able to get his team out of the jail and made the most of his experience. The veteran batter scored 69 runs off 46 balls with the help of nine fours and one six to help his team get back into the contest.
Furthermore, Harry Brook scored a crucial knock of 41 runs off just 22 balls whereas David Wiese played a fine cameo of 28 runs off just eight balls. Thus, Lahore Qalandars were able to post a par total of 180 runs on the board in the final, which proved to be more than enough as they won convincingly by 42 runs.
Moreover, Mohammad Hafeez also contributed with the ball as he scalped two wickets and conceded only 23 runs in his quota of four overs. Ergo, he was awarded the Player of the match for his fine performance with both bat as well as the ball.
Mohammad Rizwan said in the post-match presentation, “The two teams in the finals are totally deserving of the title. There’s always pressure in the final and the team that handles the pressure well wins the game. The way Hafeez handled the pressure was the turning point. They took the game deep and soaked up the pressure much better than us. It’s a great learning opportunity for a lot of them. We are humans and mistakes do happen, so it’s overall a learning curve for all of us as a team”.
On the other hand, Multan Sultans could not get going with the bat as none of their batters could make the most of their starts. Furthermore, Shaheen Shah Afridi scalped three wickets while Zaman Khan snared two wickets for Lahore Qalandars to push the opposition on the backfoot.
Multan Sultans was dominant right through the season but they were not able to bring their best in the final of the tournament.
