PSL 2024 Points Table: Updated standings after Lahore Qalandars vs Multan Sultans, Match 7

The Pakistan Super League 2024 witnessed riveting action today (Wednesday, February 21), with two matches producing contrasting results.

In the first game at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, the Karachi Kings chased down 155 against Peshawar Zalmi with ease. The second match in Multan saw the home team Sultans prevail over Lahore Qalandars by five wickets.

At the top of the table sit the Multan Sultans, who have won all three of their games so far, and amassed six points. Their impressive net run rate of +1.165 is also the highest among all teams.

Following closely are the Quetta Gladiators, who also have four points from their two victories and a net run rate of +0.635 in the 2nd and 3rd spots, respectively. In the 3rd and 4th positions are Islamabad United and Karachi Kings, who are tied at two points each, having won one game apiece.

However, Islamabad enjoys a better net run rate of +0.438 compared to Karachi's -0.683. Languishing at the 5th and 6th spots of the points table are the Lahore Qalandars and Peshawar Zalmi, who have yet to open their accounts. Lahore's net run rate is -0.743, while Peshawar has the lowest of -1.255 after their first two games.

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Multan Sultan's edge Lahore Qalandars in a thriller

Put into bat first, Peshawar lost opener Saim Ayub off the very first ball. However, skipper Babar Azam led the fightback with a sublime 72 off 51 deliveries. He found support from Rovman Powell (39 off 25) and Asif Ali (23 off 16), as Peshawar posted 154/9. Mir Hamza was the wrecker-in-chief for Karachi, with figures of 3/28.

In reply, James Vince gave Karachi a brisk start before Kieron Pollard took charge with a blistering 49 off just 21 balls. The Kings cruised to the target with 19 balls and seven wickets in hand.

The second game in Multan saw the visitors bat first with Lahore riding on half-centuries from Fakhar Zaman (41 off 36) and Rassie van der Dussen (54 off 37). Sikandar Raza, Jahandad Khan, and Carlos Brathwaite, also made cameos to post a competitive 166/5. Mohammad Ali returned figures of 2/28 for Multan.

In the chase, Multan captain Mohammad Rizwan played a captain's knock of 82 not out off 59 balls to anchor the innings. Despite losing partners, Rizwan found able support in Iftikhar Ahmed (34 off 11) as Multan scraped home with just 6 balls to spare.

Shaheen Afridi and Zaman Khan took two wickets each for Lahore but ended up on the losing side.