Lahore Qalandars v Multan Sultans PSL Tips: Hosts have edge with bat and ball

• Toss could be crucial

• Lahore more reliable with bat

• Rizwan and Masood have good records

Lahore Qalandars v Multan Sultans
Saturday 4 March, 14:00
TV: Live on Sky Sports

Team news

Lahore came back from 50 for seven to beat Quetta Gladiators last time out. They defended the joint-lowest total in the PSL (148_ and were indebted to Sikandar Raza's 71 off 34 and Haris Rauf's three wickets. Although the surge was impressive, one wonders quite how they got into such strife against a dreadful team.

Possible XI: Baig, Fakhar, Shafique, Billings, Talat, Raza, Wiese, Rashid Khan, Rauf, Zaman

Sultans made two changes for their surprise defeat by Karachi. Kieron Pollard and Mohammad Ilyas were replaced by Akeal Hosein and Anwar Ali. But Pollard may not make it back into the XI. Tim David, the hard-hitting Aussie, could well be available for selection. Carlos Brathwaite may make way.

Possible XI: Rizwan, Masood, Rossouw, David, Miller, Khushdil, Anwar, Mir, Akeal, Abbas, Ihsanullah

Pitch report

The Gaddafi Stadium is a bat-first venue and that could make all the difference in a tight contest. Lahore's struggle with the bat against Quetta was a bit early for the trend at this venue for rungetting to get tougher. It's still early days. Lahore's batting has been more powerful than Sultans so far and with that in mind they may be the more trustworthy on a high par line. Both teams to score 170 is 5/6.

How to play

Lahore are top of the table with five wins to Sultans' four from the same number of games. And the data suggests the hosts are the better team. They score significantly quicker and are also slightly more economical.

The match odds market can barely split the pair. We think with the toss bias in their favour, Qalandars are a fair bet with the 1.9310/11 holding.

Tops value

Shan Masood and Mohammad Rizwan have significantly superior records on the heads than anyone in the top three for Lahore so they're not mug cosndierations for top match bat at 7/2 and 5/1. Sportsbook also offer buys of their runs at 27.5 (10/11) and 23.5 (5/6) respectively. Raza and Wiese look big, as ever, at 10s and 16s respectively.