Former Pakistan leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed believes Multan Sultans should be declared winners of the now-suspended Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2020. 

Mushtaq, part of Sultans' coaching panel along with England’s Andy Flower and local coach Abdul Rehman, said it would be justified if the team that topped the league-phase points table is awarded champions. 

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The twin semi-finals and the marquee final, scheduled for Lahore earlier in March, were indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"The PSL five has to have a proper closure and that can be done by taking into count the top team on the points table at the end of the league stage and declaring them winners," PTI quoted Mushtaq as saying. 

"If the PCB doesn’t close the PSL 5 and tries to organise the remaining four or five matches including the final later this year or before the PSL 6 it will dent the hype and spoil the momentum of the next edition."

PCB CEO Wasim Khan had indicated that the remaining fixtures could be played at another window later in the year if things get better. But Mushtaq reckons that arrangement will be hard for teams as they might not have all their best players available to take part. 

"And it is not easy to just regroup for four to five matches and get the momentum going like it was in the PSL five," he said, adding, "Believe me I would have said the same thing even if some other franchise had finished at the top of the points table."

Multan Sultans finished numero-uno at the culmination of the league-phase with 14 points following six wins, two losses and two no results, comfortably ahead of second-positioned Karachi Kings. 

Even before its suspension, this year's edition of the PSL had been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. There were health concerns over the league's overseas recruit Alex Hales, who tweeted to have felt symptoms of Coronavirus, and then the viral threat forced the organisers to rejig the schedule and play games behind closed doors. 

(Inputs from PTI)