Player of the Match Kieron Pollard and Sheldon Cottrell combined to lead Multan Sultans to a commanding 84-run win over the Lahore Qalanders and book a place in the finals of the Pakistan Super League for the third year running.
Pollard’s 57 from 34 balls during a 65-run partnership with Tim David after Multan Sultans lost Usman Khan for 29, Mohammad Rizwan for 33 and Rilee Rossouw for 13 to be 90-3 in the 13th over. The powerfully built Trinidadian smashed one four and six sixes, three of them coming off the bowling of Shaheen Afridi in the 19th over that yielded 20 runs.
He was eventually bowled by Haris Rauf in the final over in which Multan Sultans also lost the wicket of Khushdil the very next ball.
David remained unbeaten on 22 watched from the other end as Rauf finished with figures of 3-34 when the innings closed at 160-5.
Needing eight runs an over for victory, Lahore Qalanders found the going tough at 15-2 as Cottrell dismissed Mirza Baig for eight and Abdullah Shafique for a duck in the third over. Anwar Ali bowled Fakhar Azam for six and Lahore were quickly in deep trouble on 19-3.
Cottrell picked up his third wicket when he dismissed Afridi for a duck in the fifth over to make it 28-4. Pollard got rid of Sikandar Raza for one as Lahore crumbled towards defeat.
Sam Billings scored 19 and Rauf 15 but wickets continued to regularly as Lahore folded for 76 in 14.3 overs.
Cottrell finished with 3-20 while Pollard took 1-3 from the only over he bowled.