PSL 2021: “Our bowlers deserve a lot of credit” – Mohammad Rizwan reacts to the Multan Sultans lifting their maiden PSL trophy

Multan Sultans skipper Mohammad Rizwan credited his bowlers after the team lifted their maiden Pakistan Super League (PSL) trophy at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

Riding on a late show from the batters and equally well-backed by their bowlers, the Sultans defeated four-time finalists Peshawar Zalmi by 47 runs. Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Mohammad Rizwan hailed his bowlers, who have been fantastic throughout and said:

“Credit to God, who took us from bottom to the top tonight. Credit to our managers as well, who’ve made it so comfortable for us during this second leg. When you go for the win, you need to ignore the noise. With Maqsood we felt he wasn’t getting enough of a hit and then we decided to push him up and it’s paid off. Our bowlers did well and deserve a lot of credit.”

The Multan Sultans boasted a star-studded bowling attack led by the experienced Sohail Tanvir and Imran Tahir. However, it was young Shahnawaz Dahani who stole the show, finishing as the highest wicket-taker of PSL 2021.

You can’t avoid pressure in the final: Mohammad Rizwan

Asked to bat first, the Multan Sultans were in a spot of bother, with only 107 runs on the scorecard at the end of the 13th over. However, Rilee Rossouw and Shoaib Maqsood unleashed carnage in the final seven overs to post 206 runs, which was enough to seal a win.

Following the game, Mohammad Rizwan highlighted that the team tried to stay calm in the face of pressure.

“Finals are pressure games – you can’t avoid that in the final. We discussed that and brought it down to two things – it would either be the pressure of batting first or batting second. So it began like that, the pressure of playing out the new ball, and then we took it from there,” said Mohammad Rizwan.

On the other hand, Peshawar Zalmi skipper Wahab Riaz rued giving away too many runs in the death overs as the reason for their defeat. Zalmi leaked 99 runs in the final seven overs, which in the end made the difference.

Speaking after the game, Wahab Riaz admitted that Mohammad Rizwan’s side were the better team and said:

“Playing a final is a big deal. The way we’ve played throughout this tournament, I have to credit my team. But we didn’t play well today, they played much better than us. I think the decision to bowl first was fine – we’ve been saying from the start that we leak runs in the back end, and that’s why we bowled.

Wahab Riaz added:

“But our collective efforts of our team have been great, particularly rushing back here for the second leg. Whether we’ve won or lost, we’ve done it as a team.”