Watch: PSL 8 opener gets delayed as floodlight catches fire after opening ceremony

Defending champions Lahore Qalandar started off their journey in the latest season of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) with a breathtaking victory against Multan Sultans in the inaugural match on Monday. However, ahead of the highly-anticipated game, a horrific event transpired at the Multan Cricket Ground. Just ahead of the toss, one of the floodlights at the stadium caught fire, forcing the match to get delayed by almost half an hour. Some clips of the scary incident surfaced across the internet.An astonishing fireworks show was organised at the venue as part of the glittering opening ceremony of the PSL 2023. Everything was going well until a spark was spotted at a lights tower, prompting the authority to call the fire brigade. They rushed to the spot and helped douse the flames. The stadium was almost full-house as a huge crowd was present there to enjoy the event. However, thankfully, no one was harmed as a consequence of the short-lived fire.Following a shaky start, the match finally kicked off with Multan Sultan deciding to field first. Lahore openers - Fakhar Zaman and Mirza Tahir Baig pulled off a promising start to their innings. While Zaman registered a commendable half-century scoring 66 runs off 42 balls, Baig was sent off for 32 runs. Taking full advantage of the concrete foundation, the upcoming batters played their parts and finally took the side to a decent total of 175 runs losing six wickets.Multan Sultan also got off to a brilliant start to the chase with their captain Mohammad Rizwan leading from the front. Joining hands with Shan Masood, the wicketkeeper-batter went to stitch a 100-run first-wicket partnership before Hussain Talat dismissed Masood for 35 runs. After some time, Rizwan also left for the pavilion after contributing 75 runs to the scoresheet.However, the Multan middle order failed to continue the momentum and surrendered in front of Lahore’s fiery pace attack of Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf. In the final over, seamer Zaman Khan was given the responsibility to defend 15 overs in the final over which saw the hosts losing as many as three wickets. Left-handed batter Khusdil Shah tried to pull them out of the situation with a couple of boundaries. But ultimately, the Multan side fell just 1 run short of breaching the target.In their next games, Lahore Qalandars will face Karachi Kings on 19 February while Multan Sultans will take on Quetta Gladiators on 15 February.Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.