After a high-octane double round-robin league, which was embellished by scintillating on-field performances, four teams will be vying for the two berths for the final of the HBL Pakistan Super League 2020 when the two semi-finals are played at Gaddafi Stadium today.
This year’s edition has brought forward two new contenders for the coveted title as Multan Sultans and Lahore Qalandars have gone beyond the group stage for the first time in the history of the event.
In the first semi-final, Sultans will face Peshawar Zalmi, the 2017 edition’s winners and two-time runners-up, at 2pm, while the biggest rivalry of the event will be ignited once again when Karachi Kings and Qalandars play in the second semi-final, which will commence at 7pm.
Prior to this edition, only three teams – Zalmi, Quetta Gladiators and Islamabad United – had featured in the HBL PSL finals, which mean that there will be at least one new finalist in the tomorrow title showdown.
Multan Sultans were the most successful side in the group-stage with six wins from 10 matches. They were perched at the top of the points table for the most part of the tournament and were the first ones to secure a semi-final spot. Zalmi, on the other hand, oscillated from wins to defeats over the course of their 10-match journey to date.
They enter the semi-finals ranked fourth with four wins and one of their matches getting washed-out. Sultans came out on top on both occasions when the two teams met in the group matches. They won the first match by six wickets with as many as 31 balls remaining at Multan Cricket Stadium, their home, and secured a three-run win in a closely-fought match at Karachi’s National Stadium. For Sultans, travelling to Multan played a huge role where they won all three matches and got the desired momentum. Their captain Shan Masood has been leading the batting unit from the front. The left-handed top-order batsman has piled up 253 runs, which include a half-century, at an average of 32. He is the highest run-getter for his side and sits sixth in the chart for the highest overall run-getters.
Zalmi, on the other hand, boast Pakistan’s leading T20 players. Kamran Akmal, the highest run-getter in the history of HBL PSL, continues to live-up to the expectations of the fans and is the top-scorer for Zalmi in the ongoing tournament. The wicketkeeper-batsman has piled up 251 runs at a strike rate of 162 and struck his third HBL PSL century in Zalmi’s second match of the tournament.
The biggest inter-city rivalry in the country will come alive once again as Gaddafi Stadium will stage the second semi-final between arch-rivals Karachi Kings and Lahore Qalandars.
The two teams are locked at 1-1 in this edition after defeating each other on their home grounds. Qalandars secured a comprehensive eight-wicket win against Kings at Gaddafi Stadium and Kings avenged it with a commanding 10-wicket win at the National Stadium.
That the semi-final line-up was decided on the very last group match was largely due to Lahore Qalandars, who have progressed beyond the group-stage for the first time after four attempts. Qalandars finished at the third spot, while Karachi Kings were ranked second at the completion of the group-stage.
It was their three consecutive wins in the middle-phase of their HBL PSL 2020 campaign which gave Qalandars’ the hope of their qualification to the next round and that it happened was due to the thunderous bat of Ben Dunk – who has smashed 23 sixes this tournament, the most for any batsman. Dunk leads Qalandars’ batsmen with 266 runs at an impressive average of 53. But it is his blazing strike rate of 186 which makes him a nightmare for the opposition bowlers. The Australian batsman has struck two half-centuries – against Quetta Gladiators and Kings (93 and 99 not out) – and that both have come at the Gaddafi Stadium will be a concern for Kings.
What augurs well for Qalandars is the fact that Fakhar Zaman and Sohail Akhtar have picked form at the right time. In his last three matches, Fakhar has scored two half-centuries, both coming at the Gaddafi, while Sohail’s last four scores are 68 not out, 21, 68 and 19 not out.
Lahore Qalandars captain Sohail Akhtar said: “I am very happy with how the team has performed over the course of this tournament and the whole unit is motivated and ready to perform.
“A semi-final is always a big match, but there is no extra pressure on us because of the fact that we are playing against Karachi Kings. All teams that have progressed this far are quality sides. Though we have chased well, but I believe our strength lies in bowling.”
Kings are bolstered by the presence of Babar Azam at the top of their order. The top-ranked T20I batsman has been in red-hot form with 345 runs at an average touching 50. He has smashed three half-centuries.
from Gulf Times https://ift.tt/2ITg6Ix
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