The match will be played at the National Stadium in Karachi
22 February, 2021
PHOTO COURTESY: PCB
Quetta Gladiators will take on Lahore Qalandars during the ongoing HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) at the National Stadium in Karachi today.
The Gladiators lost their first match against defending champions Karachi Kings after a lackluster performance.
The Sarfaraz Ahmed-led unit were dismissed for only 121 runs, batting first, which was easily chased down by the Kings inside 14 overs.
Meanwhile, Lahore Qalandars defeated Peshawar Zalmi in their first match, on Sunday, with Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan stealing the limelight. Rashid scored 27 not out off 15 balls to go with his 0 for 14 from four overs during the match.
Left-arm pacer Shaheen Afridi also continued his good form by bagging figures of 3/14.
This could be Chris Gayle’s last match in this year’s HBL PSL, as he is likely to leave for Sri Lanka T20Is, and he would be keen on making an impact before he departs.
Key quotes
Rashid Khan: “I feel good. The best thing is to finish it off with the bat. I got an opportunity today and just wanted to finish it for the team and have a good win. That's how we wanted to get the tournament started. It's an amazing feeling, especially my first PSL experience, to feel happy and win the game for the team I absolutely love it.”
Sarfaraz Ahmed: “I am confident that we will do better as a batting unit in future matches. Once we have enough runs on the board, I am confident that bowlers will perform better.”
Predicted lineups
Lahore Qalandars: Sohail Akhtar (c), Fakhar Zaman, Salman Agha, Mohammad Hafeez, Ben Dunk (wk), Samit Patel, David Wiese, Rashid Khan, Ahmed Daniyal, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Salman Mirza.
Quetta Gladiators: Chris Gayle, Tom Banton, Azam Khan, Sarfaraz Ahmed (c/wk), Saim Ayub, Ben Cutting, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Hasnain, Qais Ahmad, Naseem Shah, Usman Shinwari.
