Sarfaraz wins 31st PSL toss and sends Lahore into bat

Quetta Gladiators captain Sarfaraz Ahmad Tuesday won the toss and have elected to field first against Lahore Qalandars in match number 16 of the HBL Pakistan Super League 2020 edition Tuesday at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.

It was 31st occasion that Sarfraz has won the toss in Pakistan Super League making him the luckiest captain among all and 29 times he decided to bowl first.

Quetta has made one change as pacer Sohail Khan made way for Fawad Khan while Qalandars have made three changes in pursuit to reverse the fortunes as they have yet to taste win in the PSL so far. Qalandars have brought in Seekkuge Prasanna, Ben Dunk and Mohammad Faizan to counter the Gladiators challenge.

Qalandars captain Sohail Akhtar said they would try to score 160-170 runs while batting first and have planned to make their finishing better. He rued that Qalandars inability to finish the match have cost them last two matches but they have devised a plan to overcome this shortcoming.

Defending champions Quetta come into this match with three wins from five games while Lahore is still looking for their first win of the tournament. The Gladiators won their game against Islamabad United by three and five wickets and against Karachi Kings by five wickets. The team was thrashed by six wickets by Peshawar Zalmi and lost to Multan Sultans by 30 runs.

Qalandars, on the other hand, have lost all their three games, having lost by five wickets to Multan, by one wicket to Islamabad and to Peshawar by 16 runs.

Meanwhile, Lahorites continued to mainly stay away from the cricketing action in the Gaddafi Stadium once again and the stadium was only partially filled at the time of the toss. It seems the PCB has totally failed in its marketing strategy to draw crowds to matches and same could happen at the other two venues in near future where the fans have showed enthusiasm so far i.e. Multan and Rawalpindi as they were experiencing the high class cricket action in limited overs game after a gap of some 12 years. Once this mood changes there, the PCB could also face empty stands on those venues as well if they did not pro-actively and aggressively market the PSL brand.