An unbeaten 77-run fifth wicket partnership between Rilley Rossouw and Khushdil Shah helped Multan Sultans beat Peshawar Zalmi by six wickets Wednesday at Mutan Stadium.

The match also marked the return of competitive cricket action in the beautiful settings of Multan Stadium after more than 12 years.

A brilliant bowling display helped home team Multan Sultans to bowl out Peshawar Zalmi cheaply for 123 runs in 18.3 overs.

But Multan Sultans started the chase in a jittery manner losing the opener James Vince in last ball of the first over to Hasan Ali with six runs on the board. Vince made five runs and hit a boundary. In very next over Rahat Ali made it 10-2 by claiming Moeen Ali’s wicket who could score just 2 runs.

Captain Shan Masood became victim of Wahab Riaz after scoring 8 runs and Sultans were 31-3 in fifth over. Wicketkeeper batsman Zeeshan Ashraf hit three boundaries before becoming second victim of Wahab after scoring 12 runs and Zalmi were smelling a window of opportunity to clinch a low scoring affair as Sultans were reduced to 47-4 in seventh over.

But Rossouw put the brakes after the loss of 4 early wickets and a good unbroken partnership with Khushdil took Sultans to victory. Rossouw remained unbeaten on 49 off 42 balls hitting seven boundaries and a six. Khushdil was merciless at Zalmi bowlers as he remained unbeaten on 43 consuming just 29 deliveries as Zalmi reached home in just 14.5 overs. He struck two sixes and four boundaries in his innings.

Earlier, for Zalmi, Pakistan’s up and coming batsman Haider Ali starred with the bat as he scored fluent 47 runs innings off just 27 balls with a strike rate of near 175. The youngster, who was also part of Pakistan under-19 team that played recently-concluded ICC U-19 World Cup where he scored a half-century against India in the semi-final loss, showed the colours of a true batsman as he continued to play his shots despite wickets falling all around him. He hit two sixes and six boundaries in his innings before being caught out by Rilley Rossouw on a delivery of Sohail Tanvir.

After sending Zalmi into the bat, Sultans ne ball bowling pair did not let the Zalmi batsmen play freely and soon got rid of both openers including dangerman Kamran Akmal. Zalmi’s first wicket fell for four runs on the board when Tom Banton was caught by Shahid Afridi on a ball off M Irfan in the very first over of the match. Kamran soon joined him in the dressing room as he was caught by James Vince off a Sohail Tanvir’s delivery with 35 runs on the scoreboard. Kamran scored 15 runs off nine balls and hit three boundaries in the process.

Fast bowler M Ilyas played a body blow to Zalmi as he took two wickets in space of three deliveries. Shoaib Malik was again a disappointment as he gave a simple catch to wicketkeeper Zeeshan Ashraf for after scoring just two runs and two balls later Liam Livingstone also went in same fashion without disturbing the scorers when Zeeshan took another catch on Ilyas’ delivery.

Haider and Liam Dawson added 44 runs for fifth wicket before Haider becoming second victim of Tanvir. Next to go was Wahab Riaz who scored 9 runs before being cayght by Vince to give Imran Tahir his first wicket.

Boom Boom Shahid Afridi ended Dawson’s innings, who scored 22 runs and rest was history as no Zalmi batman was able to help the team complete the 20 overs.

Tanvir was the pick of Sultans bowlers as he took 4 wickets for just 13 runs in his 3.3 overs and was given man of the match award for his brilliant bowling. Irfan and Ilyas took two wickets each for 31 and 23 runs, respectively. Tahir and Afridi took one wicket each for 23 and 31 runs, respectively.