It was a match Multan Sultans simply had to win to remain alive in PSL 2019. But their hopes were dashed by Karachi Kings pacer Usman Shinwari – who picked up 4-15 in his four overs – and Liam Livingstone – who hit a critical 53 – in an ultimately tense five-wicket win for the Kings in Abu Dhabi on Monday.

On a wicket where the ball was stopping, Shinwari hit the pitch hard and proved almost impossible to score against. Shinwari kicked things off by castling opener Umar Siddiq and one-down Johnson Charles.

Any hopes of a revival from the reliable James Vince and captain Shoaib Malik were extinguished by teenage Umer Khan who continued his dream run in the fourth edition of PSL.

Umer first had Vince bowled trying an almighty sweep before having Malik caught at long on in the 14th over as Multan crawled to 75-4.

Thereafter, there were two moments of controversy. First, Dan Christian was caught off Umer by Aaron Summers at short cover even though replays showed him dragging the ball on the ground while taking the catch.

Then in the 18th over, Shinwari had Hammad Azam lbw off a low full toss that smashed into the exposed part of his pad and onto his knee. The out decision was reviewed and replays shows a faint spike on Ultra-Edge as the ball went past the bat. But the decision was upheld.

Multan could only manage 118-7 but even that target proved rather tricky for Karachi.

Young quick Mohammad Ilyas got the scalps of Colin Munro and Babar Azam while veteran seamer Mohammad Abbas picked up two wickets in the 14th over as Karachi suddenly needed 29 from 24 balls.

But Livingstone took the game deep. In the last over, Karachi required seven and Livingstone finished the game with a big six over mid wicket off leg-spinner Irfan Khan with four balls remaining.