The sixth season of Pakistan Super League (PSL) has started well and exciting matches are being seen so far. On Sunday, 21 February, a similar match was played, in which an England all-rounder washed away the team of Pakistan's legendary all-rounder Shahid Afridi. Islamabad United defeated Multan Sultans by 3 wickets in the third match of PSL-6 in Karachi. The 28-year-old allrounder from England, Lewis Gregory, was the hero of Islamabad's victory, who went on to strike the ball and bat equally and started the season with a win for his team.

Multan and Islamabad teams were face to face in the second match of double header on Sunday. Multan batted first. Apart from captain Mohammad Rizwan, no other batsman could show his strength for the team. Mohammad Rizwan, who has been in great form for Pakistan for the last few weeks, showed the same fire for his team in the PSL and played a brilliant innings.

Rizwan's innings saved Multan's shame

After losing the wicket of his opening partner Chris Lynn (1) early, Rizwan kept the front from one end and faced the bowlers of Islamabad. Rizwan scored 71 runs in 53 balls with the help of 8 fours and 2 sixes. During this, Rizwan also joined Riley Russo (25) and Carlos Brathwaite (22), who played short but sharp innings.

At the same time, veteran Pakistan veteran Shahid Afridi failed completely with the bat. He fell to Mohammad Wasim on the first ball. From Islamabad, Wasim conceded just 29 runs in 4 overs and took 3 wickets. Apart from him, Gregory also took 2 wickets for 31 runs in 4 overs.

Stripped the match in just 31 balls

In response, Islamabad lost 3 wickets for 55 runs in 7 overs. Of this, 29 runs in 20 balls of Alex Hales were also included. After this, the middle order of the team also piled up quickly and Islamabad's 6 wickets fell for just 74 runs.

After showing off the ball, Louis Gregory did wonders with the bat. Gregory handled the innings with Faheem Ashraf and started collecting runs fast. The two shared a 43-run partnership in 29 balls, ensuring Islamabad's victory. Faheem was dismissed after scoring 22 runs in 12 balls.

After this, Gregory did not let the team take any more blow and won the match for the team on the last ball of the 19th over. Gregory scored 49 runs in his crucial innings of just 31 balls, with 6 fours and a six off his bat. At the same time, Shahid Afridi, who failed in batting, definitely showed his fire in bowling and took 2 wickets for 24 runs in 4 overs. However, he also could not stop Gregory's innings.

In the cricket world, some boards are always in the headlines due to their behavior towards the players. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is also one of those boards. In the recent case, he treated one of his legendary players in such a way that the player turned down the contract given by the board. Although this player has been without contract since 2019, but as soon as this year the board included this player in the contract, he felt insulted.

Mohammad Hafeez has not been given a contract by the board since 2019. For every match he played in 2020, the board gave him the match fee for A-category players. The board had taken this decision in view of Hafiz's seniority. But suddenly the board put him in the category where his seniors got hurt and Hafiz became angry.

There is unhappiness over getting contract for C category

According to the website ESPNcricinfo's report, PCB had awarded Hafeez a C category contract. Hafeez does not like this and he rejects this contract. He has cited the low grade contract as the reason for Hafeez's rejection of this contract. Hafeez has been performing consistently for Pakistan in T20. He has scored 331 runs in this format in the last 12 months and is behind England's David Malan in scoring the most runs in T20 in a year. Malan has scored 386 runs during this period.

Rizwan gets a category

Hafeez may have been disappointed with the contract, but there are some players who must have been very happy to see the contract list. Mohammed Rizwan, who is running in superb form at the moment, has been brought into the top category. He has come from B category to A. Fawad Alam has been kept in C category. Alam has got the prize for good performance in recent times.

PCB chief executive Wasim Khan said, "Mohammad Hafeez has refused to accept the contract. I am disappointed in this but I respect his decision. He wants to wait for the 2021-22 contract list of the PCB. To which they are fully entitled. Hafeez has been our great performer this season. We hope that he will keep this rhythm in Africa. "