The Sports Buff ⚽️ ⚾️ 🏈

Islamabad United won their third PSL title after securing a thrilling two-wicket win against Mohammed Rizwan’s Multan Sultans. It was the Sultans who won the toss and they opted to bat first.

That decision appeared to be a doomed one, especially since the two-time beaten finalists were 85-4 and 114-5 at one stage. The fact that Multan Sultans had even scored that much was a credit to their player of the tournament Usman Khan who had two tons in the PSL and a 96, in the final and scored a battling 57.

Multan skipper Rizwan did score a run-a-ball 26, but at that time there was no one else who was able to apply pressure to the United attack.

That’s where Iftikhar Ahmed has come and produced many cameos to help his team. Monday’s final would be the same as Naseem Shah’s final over in this year’s tournament went for some 20 runs.

Despite letting off the 2021 PSL winners by gifting them some 20-30 runs at the end, many were thinking this was Islamabad’s game to lose. The scenario arguably was not a difficult one, sure some wickets could fall, but surely the men in red had this one in the bag.

Opposite captain Rizwan and his side, were determined not to go down without a fight and at one stage had Islamabad at 129-7. The third PSL title initially seemed to be secured and in the bag, but now it was nervous and tense in Karachi as it was anyone’s game.

For Islamabad, despite the chaos of their run chase, they could call upon the calming influence of Imad Wasim, a PSL-winning captain with Karachi Kings. It would be the Swansea-born all-rounder Wasim who with an unbeaten 19 not-out, helped Islamabad United win their first crown since 2018.

As can always be said with Pakistan’s premier T20 tournament, it was a superb spectacle across the tournament and the final was fittingly a classic, which will be one for the ages.

Commiserations to Multan, they played their part, but after this latest final loss, they have been the losing finalist for three years running.

Here at the-sports-buff.com, we have enjoyed serving you the readers. Thank you for your support and your feedback. We are aiming to grow, and we need your help.

We please need your support as we look to grow our team further and improve our site. With as little or as much as you can do to our site to grow, so it can be one of the pioneers of sports that we know it can be, we appreciate it if you could donate, as much or as little as you can.