Multan Sultans’ captain Mohammad Rizwan plays a shot as Karachi Kings’ wicketkeeper Rohail Nazir looks on during their PSL match in Lahore on Wednesday. AFP

Multan Sultans inflicted the eighth consecutive defeat on Karachi Kings to pile more misery on them by registering a seven-wicket victory at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Wednesday. After restricting Kings to 174/6 in their allotted 20 overs, Sultans achieved the target for the loss of just three wickets. Openers Shan Masood and captain Mohammad Rizwan scored from 41-ball 45 and 56-ball 76 respectively to give Sultans a solid start in their chase.

Tim David (13), Rilee Rossouw (14) and Khushdil Shah (21) continued the momentum as Sultans overhauled the target with three balls to spare. Earlier, opener Sharjeel Khan scored a 34-ball 36 to give Karachi an impressive start. But skipper Babar Azam (2) lost his wicket cheaply before Joe Clarke steadied the innings. His knock of (40 off 29 balls) was peppered with three boundaries and two sixes. After the departure of Clarke, Qasim Akram managed to get just 13 runs from 10 balls.

Rohail Nazir and Mohammad Nabi both hit 21 runs each off 15 and 16 balls respectively followed by a cameo by tail-ender Imad Wasim, who smashed an unbeaten 16-ball 32 comprised of five fours and one six to take the total to 174.

Shahnawaz Dahani took two wickets for Karachi while, Rumman Raees, Blessing Muzarabani, Imran Tahir and Khushdil Shah claimed one wicket each.     Meanwhile, Peshawar Zalmi’s Ben Cutting and Quetta Gladiators’ Sohail Tanvir on Wednesday were fined 15 per cent of their match fees for breaching a Level 1 offence of the Code of Conduct in separate incidents during a match between the two teams in the Pakistan Super League 2022.

Both the players were found to have violated Article 2.6 of the HBL PSL Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to ‘using a gesture that is obscene, offensive or insulting during a PSL Match’. All first-time offences of Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official warning and/or imposition of a fine of up to 25 per cent of the applicable match fee.

On Tuesday, during a match between Zalmi and Gladiators, Cutting after hitting Tanvir for a third consecutive six in the 19th over, made inappropriate gestures using his fingers (middle-fingers of both hands raised). After hitting him for a fourth six in the over, there was a verbal exchange between the two as the umpire got involved too.

As regards to Tanvir, he made similar gestures after catching Cutting off Naseem Shah on the first ball of the final over. “Such type of inappropriate gestures have no space in this great sport. The players need to always understand and remember their on and off the field responsibilities as they are role models and behaviour like this sends out a wrong message to the younger generation of cricketers.

The HBL PSL 2022 is being played in good, positive spirits and I would like to see the players continue to fight hard inside the field of play but at the same time to remain within the parameters of the spirit of the game,” said match referee Ali Naqvi in a statement.

Agencies