Lahore Qalandars win toss, elect to field in PSL play-off

Lahore Qalandars Wednesday won the toss and elected to field first against Multan Sultans in the first play-off match of the seventh edition of the Pakistan Super League at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore.

There is little to differentiate between the two teams when the PSL head-to-head record as both teams met 11 times with Multan Sultans winning six matches and Lahore Qalandars winning 5.

Both teams are eyeing a direct berth to the final after winning this match. The loser — however — will have another chance as they will play in eliminator 2 with the winner of eliminator 1, which will be played between Islamabad United and Peshawar Zalmi on Thursday.

High-flying Multan Sultans ended the league phase of the event with a record nine wins out of 10. However, their only loss came at the hands of the same opponent Lahore Qalandars that would give the Qalandars a conviction that they could win again over Multan.

Sultans opening pair of Mohammad Rizwan and Shan Masood are in superb form and have provided the start their team wanted in each game followed by fireworks by Rilee Rossouw and Tim David.

Sultans are without Tim David in this match who has been reportedly tested positive for Covid-19. He has been replaced by Johnson Charles.

Lahore Qalandars have won six out of 10 matches and finished on the second spot with 12 points, ahead of Peshawar Zalmi based on the net run rate.

They were beaten by Zalmi in their last match in the super over after exciting batting by Shaheen Shah Afridi in the last over that took the game into a one-over eliminator.

Qalandar's Fakhar Zaman, who started well in the tournament, has not been able to flex in the last two matches and for Lahore, it is important that Fakhar returns to his form and provide Qalandars with the start they want.

Qalandars made two changes as Abdullah Shafique and Samit Patel come in place of Sohail Akhtar and Fawad Ahmed.

Multan Sultans team: +Mohammad Rizwan, Shan Masood, Rilee Rossouw, Johnson Charles, Khushdil Shah, David Willey, Aamer Azmat, Asif Afridi, Rumman Raees, Imran Tahir, Shahnawaz Dahani.

Lahore Qalandars team: Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hafeez, Harry Brook, +Philip Salt, David Wiese, Samit Patel, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Zaman Khan.