MS vs QG: Majestic Sultans to lock horns with resurgent Gladiators today

KARACHI: Cricket lovers will see an interesting clash between two wicketkeepers as defending champions Multan Sultans will face 2019 champions Quetta Gladiators in their third-round fixture of the PSL 2022 at the National Stadium Karachi today (Monday).

The match will start at 7:30pm.

Multan Sultans are in terrific form, leading the points table after upstaging both Karachi Kings and Lahore Qalandars in their initial two matches.

Sultans beat the Kings with an enviable ease and romped to a sensational victory over Lahore when they needed 16 off the last over and Khushdil Shah hit Haris Rauf for three successive fours and a six to take his side home with two balls to spare, while chasing 207. It was also a record chase in PSL history.

Skipper Rizwan (69) hit his second successive fifty. Shan Masood (83) played a super knock which earned him the man of the match award.

Multan Sultan have shown a lot of prowess but they were also lucky to have won the toss both times on tracks which helped teams bat second.

As this clash will be under floodlights, the dew factor will influence the game and the toss will be crucial.

Sohaib Maqsood and South African Rilee Rossouw will have to raise their batting performances. In the previous two games, Multan depended on the opening pair of Shan and Rizwan. Khushdil is expected to continue with his finishing role for Multan. Tim David looks out of touch with the bat and also remained expensive with the ball. Shahnawaz Dahani, Imran Senior, David Willey and leggie Imran Tahir will have to further raise their performances. Imran Senior looked wayward in the game against Lahore and he will have to land the ball at the right length.

After losing their opener against Peshawar Zalmi, Quetta Gladiators made a superb comeback when they whipped Karachi Kings by eight wickets in their second show on Saturday.

Their young Test pacer Naseem Shah (5-20) bowled with sting and Kings were skittled out for 113. Opener Ahsan Ali continued his batting form, completing second successive fifty for Quetta and his opening stands with English rookie batsman Will Smeed have been fairly good in both the outings. Quetta comfortably achieved the target after losing just two wickets. Sarfaraz, the skipper, also hit a few glorious strokes.

English Test cricketer Ben Duckett’s form is a sign of worry for Gladiators and he will need to take some time at the crease. Iftikhar Ahmed is also expected to do something stunning for Gladiators.

Bowling has been the strong area of Gladiators with the pace-trio of Sohail Tanvir, Naseem Shah and Mohammad Hasnain looking dangerous. And it will be a testing period for Multan to tackle these pacemen who ripped through the Kings’ batting on Saturday.

So far seven matches have been held between the two teams in the PSL with Multan Sultans winning three and Quetta pocketing victories in four games. 

Aleem Dar and Ahsan Raza will supervise the match while Faisal Afridi will be the third umpire, Imtiaz Iqbal the fourth umpire and Roshan Mahanama the match referee.

Originally published in The News