PSL 2026: Smith's half-century takes Multan closer to playoffs with clinical win over Rawalpindiz

Multan Sultans got a step closer to securing their playoffs qualification in the Pakistan Super League 2026 (PSL 2026) with a six-wicket victory against Rawalpindiz on Tuesday, April 21 at National Stadium, Karachi. After opting to bat first, Rawalpindiz could only reach 166/4 in their 20 overs with Daryl Mitchell scoring a lone half century.

In reply, Multan chased down the target in 18.4 overs, riding on a splendid half-century from Steve Smith. Earlier, Rawalpindiz had a poor start to their innings as Mohammad Imran Randhawa (1/9, 3 overs) found the edge of Shahzaib Khan’s (0 off 4) bat in the very first over.

In the second over, Peter Siddle (1/39) also accounted for Yasir Khan (4 off 6) to leave Rawalpindiz on 6/2 in two overs. After the early blows, Mohammad Rizwan (26 off 29) and Daryl Mitchell stitched a 63-run stand off 50 balls for the third wicket. Rizwan’s struggling innings ended after he got stumped against Arafat Minhas (1/37) while Mitchell brought up his half-century off 40 balls.

Some lower-order contributions from Sam Billings (29 off 20) and Dian Forrester (37* off 15), guided Rawalpindiz’s score past 160. In the second innings, Multan lost Sahibzada Farhan (20 off 17) cheaply, whose stumps were shattered by Asif Afridi.

However, Steve Smith and Josh Phillipe’s 69-run stand off 43 balls for the second wicket got Multan in the driver’s seat. Smith brought up his half-century off 27 balls and was dismissed for 56 (31), falling prey to Saad Masood.

Following his dismissal, captain Ashton Turner (37 off 21) made sure there were no more hiccups in the chase and got his team over the line in the run chase.

Meanwhile, Multan maintained second position on the PSL 2026 points table with 12 points from eight matches, while Rawalpindiz continued to reel at the bottom, with zero points from eight games, still searching for their maiden win.

Top run-scorer of the Match

Top wicket-taker of the Match

Player of the Match

Steve Smith was adjudged Player of the Match for his brilliant half-century. He took the attack on Rawalpindiz's bowlers after losing his opening partner, Sahibzada Farhan. Smith stitched a crucial partnership with Josh Phillipe to give the perfect platform to Multan's chase.

Turning Point

Rawalpindiz were rocked inside the powerplay, losing Shahzaib Khan (0 off 4) and Yasir Khan (4 off 6) inside the first two overs. Mohammad Imran Randhawa and Peter Siddle accounted for the two wickets respectively as Multan got a stranglehold on Rawalpindiz right from the word go. They could never recover from a poor beginning and had to settle for a below-par score.

What did the captains say:

Winning Captain, Ashton Turner (Multan Sultans):

Yeah, it doesn't matter that you get them. You sort of find a way that works. And you know, I think the pace just sort of have a cricket forward to back under the game. Those rich steps just blocked up all cricket on and it felt like it was fun with the boundaries that are quite smaller than other places in the world. Yeah, I mean, I think history would suggest that across all competitions, and particularly in franchise T20 cricket, the tendency is eventually all the trophies are generally tend to finish in the top two and get an easy path through to the final.

Losing Captain, Mohammad Rizwan (Rawalpindiz):

We had kept a target of 170 in our mind. This was a different pitch to the last one we played. Credit to Steve Smith, he played well despite us putting him in trouble. He picked up the rhythm and the match went their way. (talking after losses, a tough thing?) Definitely. Losing 8 out of 8 is hard and then to come here and talk to you is difficult. But I think, I play club cricket, department cricket and first-class cricket. But this is a higher level. We are still focussed on getting that win but we are making regular mistakes - if you see today, in our fielding we dropped a catch, then Smith played well, so some things are not going in our favor, so the results are not coming our way. But still we will put in the effort and the rest is in god's hands. (against Islamabad, they have to win right?) Definitely. Islamabad v Pindi is always a rivalry. We put in a full effort this game, we will do the same for that game too. I will tell Shadab that you relax and come, we will come with full effort.