Seasoned campaigners Shoaib Malik and Kumar Sangakkara guided newcomers Multan Sultans to a comfortable seven-wicket win in the Pakistan Super League 2018 opener over Peshawar Zalmi in Dubai on Thursday (February 22). Chasing a tricky 152 for victory, Sangakkara and Malik had to rebuild after Ahmed Shehzad and Sohaib Maqsood fell in the first half of the run chase.While Shehzad was dismissed for a duck when he top-edged one to be caught at fine leg, Maqsood was caught at long on for a 16-ball 21, in which he took on Hammad Azam for a couple of fours and a six in one over. At the halfway stage, Sultans were 68 for 2, needing another 84 from the remaining ten overs. Sangakkara and Malik bided their time and focussed on rotating the strike before taking on Ibtisam Sheikh. While Malik launched one over the sightscreen, Sangakkara hit one past the bowler for a four that took him to 49.
Brief scores: Peshawar Zalmi 151/6 in 20 overs (Mohammad Hafeez 59, Darren Sammy 29; Mohammad Irfan 2-19, Hardus Viljoen 1-24) lost to Multan Sultans 152/3 in 19.1 overs (Kumar Sangakkara 57, Shoaib Malik 42*; Wahab Riaz 2-19, Mohammad Asghar 1-18) by 7 wickets.
