Moeen Ali made two important breakthroughs for Multan Sultans as he marked his Pakistan Super League debut with a five wicket win over Lahore Qalandars.
The Worcestershire CCC all-rounder reined in a flying start by the Qalandars after they had reached 59-0 after being put into bat.
Moeen came on second change for the final over of the powerplay and his first delivery – a full toss – was despatched for six by Chris Lynn.
But Moeen had his revenge with the very next delivery as Lynn (39 off 19 balls) holed out to Shan Masood at mid off.
Two balls later Moeen enjoyed another success as Fakhar Zaman (19) was caught at deep mid wicket by Khushdil Shah.
The first delivery of Moeen’s second over also brought about a wicket as Mohammad Hafeez was run out by Shahid Afridi’s throw from point to the off spinner.
Moeen only bowled the two overs and finished with 2-13 as Qalandars were restricted to 138-8 in their 20 overs.
When the Sultans replied, Moeen – batting at number three – made 11 off eight balls with two boundaries but was then run out.
He was called through for a single but then Masood stood his ground and Moeen’s attempt to regain his ground was in vain.
Masood (38), Rilee Rossouw (32) and Afridi (21 not out) saw the Sultans to victory with 3.5 overs to spare.
