Lahore Qalandars dismantled Islamabad United as they registered their sixth victory in PSL 7. Islamabad United now need a win from their final group game against Multan Sultans to book their place in the PSL playoffs.
Lahore got off to a horrid start as they lost three early wickets. Fakhar Zaman and Harry Brook counter-attacked with some huge strikes as they took the charge back on Islamabad United. Zaman departed after scoring yet another half-century while Brook continued the onslaught and scored a scintillating century to take the total to 197/6.
Islamabad got off to a poor start as well and never managed to recover as Lahore tightened the screws. None of the batters were able to handle the heat as they could only score 131/9 in their 20 overs. Lahore won the match by 66 runs.
Harry Brook was named as the player of the match for his outstanding knock. Brook scored 102 runs off 49 balls including 10 fours and 5 sixes.
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Lahore Qalandars will go head to head against Islamabad United in the 27th match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 7. The two teams will battle it out against each other at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore at 7:30 pm PKT on Saturday, 19 February.
Match Preview
Lahore will be looking to quickly bounce back after their disappointing loss to arch-rivals Karachi Kings last night. While Lahore have already qualified for the PSL playoffs, a win against Islamabad tonight will ensure they finish second and book their place in the first qualifier. Lahore had a disappointing outing with the bat last night as they failed to chase down 150 and they will be determined to put in a much better performance this time around.
Islamabad, on the other hand, have not qualified for the PSL playoffs yet but a win against Lahore will ensure their qualification for the next round. Islamabad lost a close-fought contest against Peshawar in their previous outing and they will be determined to bounce back quickly. They have been struggling with player availability since the Lahore leg and they will be hoping that their makeshift team can get them the two points.
Islamabad are likely to make a few changes to their squad to find the right balance. Nasir Nawaz, Zafar Gohar, and Hasan Ali are likely to come into the line-up at the expense of Zahir Khan, Danish Aziz, and Musa Khan. Meanwhile, Lahore are likely to name an unchanged XI.
Match Details
• Date Saturday, 19 February 2022
• Time 07:30 pm PKT
• Venue Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore
• Live Stream LINK
Check out the details of the match here.
Possible Playing XIs
Lahore Qalandars possible XI – Shaheen Afridi (c), Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Phil Salt (wk), Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hafeez, Harry Brook, David Wiese, Rashid Khan, Haris Rauf, Zaman Khan
Check out Lahore’s full squad here
Islamabad United possible XI – Asif Ali (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Nasir Nawaz, Azam Khan (wk), Liam Dawson, Faheem Ashraf, Zafar Gohar, Mubasir Khan, Hasan Ali, Marchant De Lange, Waqas Maqsood
Head to Head
Overall, the two teams have come face to face 13 times in the tournament. United have an upper hand with 9 wins while Qalandars have won 4. They last faced each other in PSL 7 on 5 February 2022 at National Stadium Karachi which Lahore won by 8 runs.
X-Factor
Fakhar Zaman has been one of the best players in the tournament so far and Lahore’s dependency on him is what makes him their X-factor. Fakhar got out early in the previous match and Lahore were unable to chase down a 150 run target. Lahore will be hoping that Fakhar is back to his best and spur them on to a victory.
Azam Khan played a special knock against Peshawar in the previous match but unfortunately, he was unable to take his team over the line. Azam is a vital cog in a weak Islamabad batting unit and United will be hoping that he continues his rich vein of form.
Source: Pro Pakistani