Lahore Qalandars vs Islamabad United Betting Tips 09/06/2021

02:14, 8 Jun 2021

Senior Author

02:14, 8 Jun 2021

Zohaib Ahmed is a sports journalist whose profession is to report and edit but whose passion is to predict and bet. He’s been in the industry for more than a decade and has worked/written for various bookmakers/tipsters. His expertise is in cricket, football, MMA, boxing and basketball.

After a Covid-induced break of more than three months, the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2021 resumes on Jun 9 (Wednesday) in Abu Dhabi, with the first fixture seeing Lahore Qalandars take on Islamabad United at Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium. The match is scheduled to start at 9:30pm IST.

Teams Status

Lahore Qalandars

Lahore Qalandars have been dealt a major injury scare ahead of the restart as their hard-hitting batsman Ben Dunk copped a ball to his mouth during catching practice, opening up a nasty cut on his upper lip. The Qalandars management, however, is confident that the bald Aussie would recover in time for Wednesday’s game.

The break and the restart could affect the composition and balance of most rosters as some foreign stars that were available in Feb-March are not around this time. But this affects Qalandars very little as their core is based on local stars or talent they themselves have cultivated. Thus, they remain arguably the best placed side for the restart and could be the favourites to win it all.

The Qalandars have improved rapidly over the past campaign but their record against two-time champions Islamabad is still woeful. In fact, Islamabad have won all of their last five meetings. Even beyond the recent head-to-head, Lahore have an atrocious record against the capital city side, having beaten them just twice in 10 meetings for a win ratio of just 25 per cent.

Islamabad United

On the flip side, Islamabad’s winningest record is against Lahore, for whom they are pretty much a bogey team. Even last year when Islamabad had suffered their worst campaign and crashed out after finishing last, they had done the double over Lahore. In fact, in their last meeting, they had thrashed Lahore by 71 runs, which is enough demonstration of how comfortable the Shadab Khan-led side feels against Sohail Akhtar’s men.

That said, the side that Islamabad have beaten so regularly over the past half a decade was nothing like the transformed band of brothers Lahore are right now. And it will be foolish on Islamabad’s part to take this fixture lightly.

Islamabad United will have the services of Australian Usman Khawaja, who was born in Islamabad and is considered a bit of their local lad. The lefty is not a T20 specialist, which is why his pick up in the redraft is not going to cause a massive difference.

What do the Sportsbook Say

Brand	Home team name	Away team name
	1.82	1.88
	1.71	2.136
	1.74	2.04

Despite their terrible record, Lahore Qalandars are the favourites in this fixture. They are priced at 1.71 by 22Bet, 1.82 by Bet365 and 1.74 by LeoVegas. Meanwhile, Islamabad United can be backed for 2.136 at 22Bet, 1.88 at Bet365 and 2.04 at LeoVegas.

Tipster’s Angle

Tip: Lahore Qalandars to win @ 1.71

Islamabad United have an abundance of allrounders but they are a bit short of quality and dependable local batsmen, who pack more value than usual on familiar UAE tracks. Lahore, meanwhile, have Mohammad Hafeez and Fakhar Zaman, who know all about the conditions they are going to encounter in Abu Dhabi. Factor in the revenge angle and the fact that Lahore have some of the best bowlers in the format, and their moneyline bet starts to look pretty decent.

Tip: Highest individual score under 65.5 @ 1.82

Most of the participating players are coming off of breaks and lengthy, cumbersome quarantines. Some of the players – such as aforementioned Khawaja – are not even T20 specialists while some have not played competitive cricket in a while. It means that there could be some ring rust and players might need some time adjusting to new conditions of the UAE desert. Hence, it will be completely understandable if no one player shines in a big way and the match is decided by contributions rather than solo acts that exceed 65.5 runs.

Conclusion

Both the teams have equal number of points (6) but Lahore are slightly more studded and feature a top class bowling unit, too. If all goes according to plan, Lahore should come out victorious.