Multan Sultans vs Islamabad United, 4th Match, Pakistan Super League 2026 - Commentary

That is a wrap from the first double-header of the season. We got one more double-header in store tomorrow. Do remember to join us for those games. Cheers!!

Ashton Turner | Multan Sultans skipper: Before the game, I asked the side to play with confidence, but it can be difficult. We’re a newly established side. We have some history, but we’ve got a lot of new faces, so there’s not a lot of body of evidence to allow us to play with confidence. But now we’ve got a win under our belt, and hopefully we know that T20 cricket’s a game of momentum, and hopefully we can grab that momentum and run with it now. We actually had quite a few quality contributions across the playing order. Momin was, you know, he’s exciting, right? He’s a young player. He’s got so much potential, but, you know, there’s a few guys that we had a couple of tough selection calls as well, because we’ve got a lot of quality cricketers who didn’t get opportunities tonight. So it’s pleasing that the guys who did get the nod were able to contribute and get us over the line. Yeah, and I would probably throw a blanket over the whole PSL. You know, it’s an exciting competition to be a part of. You can feel the anticipation with the general public. We know that all of the teams are really well supported, but in particular, we’re feeling that support for Multan. And, you know, it’s a great tournament to be a part of. And, you know, everyone’s happy and smiling whilst we’re winning games of cricket, and long may that continue.

Shadab Khan | Islamabad United skipper: I think it was 15 to 20 runs short from the par score, but I think that’s the first game. I think we didn’t get the momentum when we needed. We lost wickets back-to-back there and I think Momin bowled well. He was brave enough to bowl on that length. I think credit to him as well and I think a learning point for us is don’t give back-to-back wickets because every time you got a partnership because you had a few 20s, 30s partnership, but you just couldn’t take one longer. I think that’s what was the missing part, but still it’s the first game and hopefully we will learn from this. Definitely, experience mattered how they played. The condition was not that easy, but I think how they play, running between the wickets was a standout.

Momin Qamar | Player of the Match: When you achieve success like this, it feels really good. Look, first of all, I am very happy that I have come under a new management, and it doesn’t feel like I have come somewhere else; it feels like my own family. I feel that they have supported me - the head coach and Gohar bhai. A day before, they had told me that you are playing, and they also shared all the planning. There was support from everyone, and the greatest happiness is only when your team wins the match, and in winning this match my three wickets played a big role because we restricted Islamabad to that total. It’s not like I had already decided that I would bowl a googly to him (Shadab), but when I came into my run-up, I saw that he was slightly changing his position, so I thought that I should bowl it away from him so that he doesn’t hit a big shot. Someone like Tabraiz Shamsi is there, so it feels like he is with us. When we are playing matches together, I learn a lot from him. Whenever I need to ask something, I ask him, and we learn from each other. (Translated from Urdu).

22:40 Local Time, 17:40 GMT, 23:10 IST: All 4 foreign players have played their part for the Multan Sultans. It was Peter Siddle in the first innings with a economical spell that included the wicket of Devon Conway and during the chase, the experienced duo of Smith and Turner played impactful knocks to complement an excellent knock from Josh Philippe. The Aussie keeper-batter notched up a 35-ball 55 and looked in great control whilst keeping the required rate in check. All in all, it was a professional chase from the Multan Sultans. Stick around for the post-match reactions...

Salman Irshad to Arafat Minhas, THATS OUT!! Caught!!