Lahore Qalandars are in search of a win desperately and a loss at Gaddafi Stadium against Peshawar Zalmi tonight will mean that they have lost all 5 games at home this PSL Season.
Maybe it is time for the Qalandars to bring back their trusted middle-order batter Abdullah Shafique who often bats at number 4 for them to bring some balance in the batting line-up.
Haris Rauf’s Injury means that Pakistan’s premium fast bowlers will be on the sidelines for some time which means that the Lahore Qalandars’ team management will need to look at David Weise and left-arm medium pacer from Swat, Muhammad Imran.
Peshawar Zalmi made four changes in the last match that turned out to be fruitful, Tom Kohler Cadmore, M. Zeeshan, Aamir Jamal and Waqar Salamkheil were dropped after a heavy defeat against Karachi Kings and Naveen Ul Haq, Paul Walter, Arif Yaqoob and Haseebullah were introduced.
The combinations worked against Multan as Naveen Ul Haq struck twice and Arif Yaqoob took 3 wickets to stop Sultans from chasing a total of 180 runs.
Haseebullah impressed massively, his knock of 37 off 18 balls with a strike rate of 205.55 provided impetus and much needed acceleration in Zalmi’s innings.
Expect massive changes in the Qalandars playing XI while Zalmi might go unchanged after their crucial victory against Multan Sultans.
Gaddafi stadium is really useful surface for batters as we have seen throughout the season that whenever a team is struggling in the powerplay, they can always recover. The pitch in Lahore provides a great balance between bat and ball considering the bowlers have achieved results from this wicket whenever they hit the right lengths. Spinners need to bowl wicket to wicket to achieve success. If a team cannot defend a total they must bat first and Qalandars have failed to defend numerous times this season.
You can check out the full PSL schedule here
| Team | Matches | Wins | Losses |
| Peshawar Zalmi | 18 | 10 | 8 |
| Lahore Qalandars | 8 | 10 |
Check out the PSL 9 squads here
Lahore Qalandars:
| Sahibzada Farhan | Rassie Van Der Dussen | Shai Hope (wk) | David Weise | M. Imran | Zaman Khan |
| Fakhar Zaman | Abdullah Shafique | Sikandar Raza | George Linde | Shaheen Afridi (c) |
Peshawar Zalmi:
| Babar Azam (c) | M. Haris (wk) | Tom Kohler Cadmore | Luke Wood | Aamer Jamal | Naveen Ul Haq |
| Saim Ayub | Haseebullah | Rovman Powell | Salman Irshad | Arif Yaqoob |
Check out the PSL 9 Points Table here