Usman Khan made history with his second consecutive century in the Pakistan Super League, but there was some suggestion that his keenness to reach the milestone in the final over had hurt Multan Sultans, who went down in a final-ball finish to Islamabad United.

The result guaranteed Islamabad United’s qualification for the PSL playoffs, with Multan Sultans already confirmed for the latter stages.

Usman, uncapped in international cricket, has been in scintillating form in Pakistan’s premier T20 competition. He became the first player to hit multiple tons in a single PSL season, with a score of 96 against Lahore Qalandars taking his tally past 300 in three innings. The top-order bat made a 36-ball ton in PSL 2023. Kamran Akmal is the only other batter with three hundreds in the competition’s history.

His innings carried Multan Sultans to 228-4, but half-centuries from Colin Munro and Shadab Khan and a scintillating finish from Imad Wasim gave Islamabad United a last-ball victory. Imad hit six and four off the last two balls of the game, leading some to question whether Usman and Multan Sultans could have gone harder in the dying stages of the innings.

Having scored 129 runs in nine overs up until the final over, a rate of over 14 per over, Usman needed two for his hundred with six balls left in the game. He got there, but scored just two off his last three balls. Chris Jordan also hit a single to get him back on strike before the penultimate ball.

Cricket statistician Mazher Arshad felt that the passage “kind of hurt” Multan Sultans’ chances.

T20 cricket is a game of close of margins and has many facets. You never know what turns out to be the defining moment that’s why you always aim to maximize the resources. Usman Khan scoring 3 off his last 4 balls to get to a milestone kind of hurt Multan Sultans tonight.

— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) March 10, 2024

Mark Butcher, speaking on commentary, was similarly unimpressed. “I go back to that messing around for Usman’s hundred,” he said. “Another boundary, another four runs, who knows what difference that might have made?”

Rawalpindi became infamous in PSL 2023 for high-scoring games. Across 11 games, 200 was made 12 times. Three of the highest 10 match aggregates in the history of T20 cricket took place in a single week. Multan Sultans almost failed to defend 262 in one game, while Peshawar Zalmi had two scores above 240 gunned down. While run scoring has not been as high this time around, this was a reminder of how important maximising resources is, even when it seems like a team has plenty.

Islamabad United are currently second, but have completed their fixtures, and are relying on results elsewhere to ensure they don’t have to go through the Eliminator. Multan Sultans must beat Quetta Gladiators or hope Peshawar Zalmi don’t beat Karachi Kings to confirm a top-two finish.