Rilee Rossouw was on fire on Saturday as he hit six sixes and 10 boundaries en route his maiden Habib Bank Limited (HBL) Pakistan Super League (PSL) ton to help Multan score 199 as the hosts beat Quetta Gladiators by 30 runs at the Multan Cricket Stadium.
Player of the match Rossouw hit it towards covers on the third last ball of the innings to steal a single and score the fastest HBL PSL century till day off just 43 balls. He beat the previous record set by Cameron Delport off 49 balls.
His antics helped Multan amass 199-5 in their 20 overs.
Multan, who elected to bat first, were 48-3 in the eighth over and looked out of the game after losing opener Zeeshan Ashraf for eight off 11 balls, James Vince for 29 off 24 balls and Friday’s hero Moeen Ali for only six off seven balls.
In walked Rossouw to join Multan Sultans captain Shan Masood as they both built a partnership of 139 runs for the fourth wicket.
In the process, Masood scored 46 off 32 balls with the help of six boundaries. He was also hit on the neck during the innings by a Ben Cutting bouncer, but after a brief break, he stood up to bat again.
Rossouw stayed unbeaten on exactly 100 off 44 balls at the end of the innings with Sohail Tanvir batting at the other end.
Muhammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Sohail Khan, Mohammad Hasnain and Cutting all bagged one wicket apiece for the Gladiators.
In pursuit of a difficult target, Quetta were given good start by England’s World Cup opener Jason Roy and former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson. Both combined to take the Gladiators score past the 50-run mark.
Roy was the first one to be dismissed on 30 off 27 balls courtesy six fours. He was caught by Ali off Bilawal Bhatti’s delivery.
Incoming batsman Ahsan Ali then contributed 14 runs to the total, while Watson did the bulk of the scoring. Ahsan was dismissed by Khushdil Shah as James Vince bagged the catch.
Azam Khan, hero for Quetta in two matches in this edition of the HBL PSL, could only score six runs off as many balls before he was accounted for by leg-spinner Imran Tahir. Azam hit only one four before being caught by Madsen.
Tahir carried forward his wicket-taking form from the previous match and dismissed the all-important Watson on the score of 80 off 41 balls. Watson had hit seven boundaries and as many maximums during his innings.
After Watson fell, Quetta found it hard to keep the required run-rate in check and kept losing wickets under pressure.
For Multan, Bhatti bagged three wickets in his four overs for 26 runs. Tahir bagged two, while Shah bagged one wicket for the winners.
The fifth edition of the HBL PSL 2020 will only see one match take place on Sunday. Twice HBL PSL champions Islamabad United will take on Karachi Kings in the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.