Vince leads Kings' batting effort as Sultans are eliminated

Karachi Kings dumped Multan Sultans out of a tournament they never really got into, with former Sultan James Vince scoring a majestic unbeaten 65 to ask Sultans to chase 205. Sultans never looked to have the belief they would get anywhere close, and, eventually, didn't. Kings were tidy, if not spectacular, letting Sultans' tame, limp display on a blistering afternoon in Lahore do the job for them, and helping themselves to an 87-run win.

This game was moved from Multan to Lahore despite Sultans' objections. But it would have taken more than home advantage to overcome the gulf in the two sides' performances on Thursday. David Willey conceded just 24 runs in his four overs, but when Michael Bracewell bowled the second over and conceded just as many in those six balls, it was more representative of what Sultans would dish up. That onslaught from David Warner on the New Zealand spinner set the tone for the innings, even if the Kings captain miscued Willey to point for an entertaining off just 30 13 balls.

It was one of three wickets Sultans took within 11 balls, and would briefly have raised hopes that they would rein Kings in with wickets. Either side of Warner's dismissal, Ubaid Shah removed Tim Seifert and Omair Yousuf. But it brought Vince and Irfan Khan together, as they took charge of the middle overs. As Sultans wilted in the heat, the pair cashed in, compiling 78 in 56 balls, and setting up a platform for a big finish.

Sultans promised their fielding would stand out this tournament, and for reasons they wouldn't want, it has. The shelling of a top edge from Vince by Usama Mir at square leg in the 17th over took the Englishman to 50, before both he and Khushdil Shah cut loose. The last 14 balls of the innings yielded 45 runs as Khushdil's unbeaten 33 from 13 deliveries led the way as Vince offered ample support in his slipstream, smashing Ubaid for a six and a four in a penultimate over that went for 19 runs.

When Khushdil cleared his front leg as well as long-on to heave Chris Jordan for six off the innings' final delivery and dragged the total above 200, it was merely an exclamation mark on Kings' dominance.

Like a film that has revealed its hand halfway through but still needs to get through the remaining time, the second innings began. Sultans demonstrated there was little fight left, and their captain Mohammad Rizwan fell for a duck in the second over to Abbas Afridi. Usman Khan, once more, played an ordinary shot to scoop a wide delivery into Vince's hands, while Yasir Khan's breezy 26 was brought to an abrupt end by Aamer Jamal in the fifth over.

Curtis Campher, though, went after Afridi in the final over of the powerplay to bring Sultans up to 53 in six overs, not far off from where Kings were at that stage. However, Sultans couldn't bring themselves to put together a partnership of note, and the collapse that feels just around the corner was about to be realised. They lost five wickets for 14 runs to go from 76 for 4 to 90 for 9, wickets scattering like seeds in the wind, with Mohammad Nabi the primary grateful recipient.

Two wickets in two balls from Nabi put Bracewell and Willey out of the equation before Khushdil mopped up Iftikhar Ahmed and Kamran Ghulam. Nabi added a third before Chris Jordan and Ubaid Shah found 27 runs for the final wicket that got Sultans to three figures while avoiding a three-figure defeat, but when Mir Hamza applied the coup de grace by getting Ubaid, it was almost more a relief for Sultans than Kings.