Watch: Floodlight tower catches fire during the opening match of PSL 2023, match delayed by 30 minutes

PSL 2023 (Source - Twitter)

The first match of the latest season of the Pakistan Super League(PSL) was played between Lahore Qalandars and Multan Sultans on Monday, February 13 at the Multan Cricket Stadium in Multan. The match was very exciting, but something happened during the match that no one had imagined.

Before the match, an opening ceremony was organized in the stadium. When fireworks were set off during the opening ceremony, a floodlight tower in the stadium caught fire, after which the fire brigade was called to control the fire. The fire brigade then worked to extinguish the fire in the floodlight. During this, there was a delay of about 30 minutes in the start of the first match. The video of the fire in the floodlight tower is going viral on social media.

Watch the video here:

ملتان اسٹیڈیم میں پی ایس ایل کی افتتاحی تقریب کے دوران ہونے والی آتش بازی کے باعث فلڈ لائٹس میں آگ لگ گئی... ریسکیو عملے نے آگ پر قابو پا لیا ہے#PSL8 pic.twitter.com/Td940KTWKP

— Qadir Khawaja (@iamqadirkhawaja) February 13, 2023

Talking about the match, the Sultans won the toss and opted to bowl first. Lahore got off to a good start as openers Fakhar Zaman and Mirza Baig stitched a 61-run partnership for the first wicket. Baig departed after scoring 32 runs which included 5 fours. However, Zaman’s quickfire fifty laid the platform for a big total but the middle order couldn’t provide anything special to the scoreboard.

Nail-biting start of the tournament

Multan restricted the Qalandars on the score of 175 runs. Leg-spinner, Usama Mir was the standout bowler for the Sultans as he picked up 2 wickets and conceded only 25 runs in his four overs quota. Akeal Hosein also bowled well as he was the one who broke the opening partnership by dismissing Baig.

Chasing the target, Multan’s skipper Mohammad Rizwan and left-hander Shan Masood provided a brilliant start to the team. They had a great powerplay and although they slowed down a bit in the middle overs but looked in total control as they stitched a 100-run stand for the first wicket. However, Lahore’s bowlers did quite well in the middle overs and took timely breakthroughs. After losing Masood, the required run rate kept increasing for Multan.

Lahore bowled brilliantly in the death overs and won the match by only 1 run. Skipper Shaheen Afridi bowled pretty well as he picked up a crucial wicket of Rizwan and conceded only 27 runs in 4 overs. The tournament couldn’t have gotten off to a better start than this as it was a nail-biting contest.