Kings take on Qalandars in HBL PSL today

KARACHI: Holders Karachi Kings will take on Lahore Qalandars in a crucial game of the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2021 here at the National Stadium on Sunday (today).

The match begins at 7pm.

Kings will be more confident as they downed Multan Sultans by seven wickets in Saturday’s day game.

Kings achieved the 196-run target with seven balls to spare. Babar Azam seemed in elegant touch, scoring 90 not out, his second successive fifty — 16th of his PSL career.

Kings’ English wicket-keeper batsman Joe Clarke (54) played another entertaining innings, hitting four huge sixes. Their opener Sharjeel showed his class by scoring 105, his second PSL century, against Islamabad United the other day.

Kings also have solid bowling resources in Mohammad Amir, who on Saturday bowled a splendid over against Multan’s in-form skipper Mohammad Rizwan in which Kings took two reviews, although unsuccessful. Rizwan was beaten three times comprehensively which was a superb demonstration of fast bowling seen for the first time in this event so far.

Kings’ Arshad Iqbal has been continuously unsettling the batsmen and has added to last year’s champions bowling weight a lot.

Lahore, on the other hand, will depend on Mohammad Hafeez and Fakhar Zaman who are in good touch. Hafeez has scored two fifties in three games.

Lahore’s fast bowling resources are much better as they have Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf, two lethal bowlers with international experience.

Lahore have also hired the services of Nepalese young leggie Sandeep Lamichhane in place of Rashid Khan of Afghanistan who has left to join his national side for the Test series against Zimbabwe starting in the UAE next week.

Both teams have won two matches each. Karachi started their title defence with an emphatic seven-wicket win over former champions Quetta Gladiators on February 20. Kings then were beaten by United with a five-wicket margin on February 24, before they outwitted Multan by seven wickets on Saturday to take their points to four from three games.

Lahore started superbly when they beat both Peshawar and Quetta in their first two matches by four and nine wickets, respectively.

However, Sohail Akhtar-led Lahore tasted their first defeat when they were downed by Multan by seven wickets on February 26.