Istafa Ali
At the National Stadium, United overcame a modest 160-run target when young Hunain Shah drove the last ball of the last over for a boundary towards backward point.
Mohammad Ali bowled the 20th over, and Hunain’s elder brother Naseem Shah struck a boundary off the second delivery, but with a single needed off the next two deliveries, he was caught behind. United needed eight runs from this over.
Hunain, nevertheless, maintained composure to deny the Sultans victory in their third straight final.
Shadab Khan, the captain of United, thanked the entire team.
“Everyone worked together,” Shadab remarked. “We peaked at the right time in the league and that mattered in the end.”
In addition, United won the PSL championship for the first time in 2016 and again in 2017.
Earlier, after winning the toss and choosing to bat, the Sultans scored 159-9 in their 20 overs.
Usman Khan’s 40-ball 57 and captain Mohammad Rizwan’s 26 helped lead them.
Khan smashed seven boundaries and a six, but the Sultans collapsed to 127-9 when he was removed in the 16th over, losing five wickets for only 13 runs.
With 5-23, left-arm spinner Imad Wasim led the destroyers, followed by Naseem with 3-32.
With three sixes and as many boundaries in a flurry of 20-ball 32 not out, Iftikhar Ahmed was the man who turned the innings around, scoring 31 in the final two overs.
United was also derailed, going from 121-4 to 129-7, but Wasim rallied the late order hitters to victory with a composed 17-ball 19.
Martin Guptill, a former opener for New Zealand, top-scored for the champions with a 32-ball fifty that included three sixes and four boundaries.
Azam Khan scored four boundaries and a six off of a 22-ball thirty.
In the first round of the ninth League, Karachi Kings and the reigning champion Lahore Qalandars were eliminated, while United, Sultans, Peshawar Zalmi, and Quetta Gladiators advanced to the play-offs.
