Multan Sultans held their nerve in a high-scoring PSL clash on Sunday, beating Karachi Kings by 11 runs after posting 207 for 7 and then bowling Karachi out for 196 in 19.4 overs at the National Stadium. The result gave Multan two points in a game that swung wildly, especially at the death.
The platform for that win came from the top order. Josh Philippe blasted 44 off 23 balls, Shan Masood added 46 off 25, and Multan tore through the powerplay to reach 69 for 1 in six overs. By the time they crossed 100 in 9.5 overs, Karachi were already chasing the game a bit.
Multan did not have one huge century-maker or a single overwhelming partnership. What they had was momentum, and enough hitters keeping it alive through the innings. They were 121 for 3 at the strategic timeout, moved past 150 in the 15th over, and crossed 200 in the penultimate over, which turned a strong total into a genuinely awkward one.
Karachi’s chase never quite settled early. They lost three wickets in the powerplay and were only 49 for 3 after six overs, which meant they were always trying to repair the innings while keeping up with the rate. A 50-run stand between Reeza Hendricks and Moeen Ali pulled them back into the contest, and Karachi reached 150 in 15.3 overs, so for a while the game was very much alive.
Then came the twist that made the finish memorable. Abbas Afridi and Hasan Ali launched a late assault that threatened to steal the match, but Multan just about survived it. The Cricinfo score summary shows Hasan Ali was the last man out for 23 off 10 balls, run out in the final over, with Karachi closing on 196 all out. That last burst gave the chase some real drama, but not quite enough.
Arafat Minhas was named Player of the Match, a sign of how valuable his wickets were in a game dominated by batting. On a surface where over 400 runs were scored across both innings, breakthroughs mattered more than economy alone, and Multan found them at the right moments.
For Karachi, this was the frustrating kind of defeat: they conceded heavily, lost early wickets, and still managed to make a proper fight of it late on. For Multan, it was a reminder that even in a shootout, structure still counts. Their top-order burst gave them the cushion, and their bowlers protected just enough of it when the chaos arrived at the end.
