Ed Hawkins previews Multan v Lahore and Karachi v Quetta in Saturday’s PSL double-header
Multan Sultans v Lahore Qalandars
Saturday 29 January 09.00
TV: live on Sky Sports
Quetta bowling a problem
Multan Sultans started PSL7 from where they left off. The champions oozed class with a comprehensive dismantling of Karachi Kings, the supposed favourites.
Sultans, the best bowling unit in the competition last term, restricted a dangerous Kings line-up to just 124. Babar Azam and Mohammad Nabi produced particularly poor efforts.
Imran Tahir won man of the match with three for 16. David Willey, a late replacement signing, was economical.
Possible XI: Masood, Rizwan, Maqsood, Rossouw, David, Khushdil, Willey, Tahir, Imran Khan, Dahani, Ihsanullah
Lahore unpredictable
Lahore have been tricky to predict. Last term they were fifth. The year before they were runners-up. They have one of the most enviable bowling attacks in the world game.
Shaheen Shah Afridi, Rashid Khan and Haris Rauf give them a 12-over headstart. But batting has been the worry. They ranked fifth for run rate and when they have all players available they are still only coming in at No 5 on boundary percentage. New capture Fakhar Zaman needs a big tournament.
Phil Salt and Harry Brook are unavailable. So Ben Dunk and Matt Potts are replacements. David Wiese is a good signing.
Possible XI: Fakhar, Shafique, Hafeez, Sohail Akhtar, Dunk, Wiese, Ghulam, Patel, Rashid, Afrid, Rauf, Daniyal
Pitch report
Game one was a big trend buster with the Kings scraping together 125. It was way below par. More than 170 has been posted in 11 of the last 18 and in nine of those both teams scored 160 or more. One trend which did hold up was the toss bias. In the last 27 PSL games at Karachi, 22 have been won by the chaser. Sportsbookgo 9/5 that both teams score 160. We’re going to keep hitting that price until the pitch proves otherwise.
Sultans can chase
Multan are 1.774/5with Lahore expected to mature at 2.305/4. We can debate the merits of either price but it’s all irrelevant until the toss.
In an ideal world we’d like Sultans to chase because they are the superior outfit and then hope for a tick up in their price – it should shorten post-toss – with a few swings of the bat.
Tops value
Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar have been boosted to 12/5 and 10/3 respectively for tops honours for their teams with Sportsbook. The price that stands out, though, is the 5/1 about Abdullah Shafique. He could well open the batting for Lahore.
Afridi looks a wager at 2s to oust Rashid for top Lahore bowler at 6/4. Afridi’s death bowling gives him better opportunity. Bet the player markets here.
Karachi Kings v Quetta Gladiators
Saturday 29 January 14.30
TV: live on Sky Sports
To follow…
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Source: Betfair General