Teams Status
Multan Sultans
The confidence must be high in camp Multan as they notched the biggest win of PSL history (110 runs) in their last game against Quetta. That victory was the construct of former Multan captain Shan Masood (73) and a balanced effort by their bowlers led by the experienced Imran Tahir, whose three-for was pivotal in bowling Quetta out for just 73 runs.
A victory tonight will almost guarantee a playoffs berth to Multan as their run rate is far better than Lahore’s, and with tonight being Lahore’s final game, they will not have the opportunity to erase that difference.
The Sultans will find even more confidence in the fact that they comfortably defeated Multan when they last met on February 26. Back then, Mohammad Rizwan’s 76 and Sohaib Maqsood’s unbeaten 61 had got the job done.
Lahore Qalandars
Lahore Qalandars will look to seal their playoff berth when they face Multan Sultans tonight in their final match of the round robin stage. The Sohail Akhtar-led side blew the first of their two chances last night when they were edged out by archrivals Karachi Kings.
A victory tonight will swell their points tally to 12 and push them up in second spot on points table behind only Islamabad United. Even if they don’t win, they won’t be out of playoffs race just yet but will be overtaken by Multan in the standings and will have to pray that Karachi Kings lose their own last game, which is unlikely as it is against Quetta, who have won just twice all season.
Thus, Lahore, in order to keep their fate in their own hands, will have to get the job done tonight. But for that to happen, they will have to get their top order firing. Lahore’s star batsmen Mohammad Hafeez, Fakhar Zaman and Ben Dunk have been more than subdued since the restart of PSL and their failures have often put the pressure on lower order batsmen.
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