Lahore Qalandars v Peshawar Zalmi
Sunday 26 February, 14:00
TV: Live on Sky Sports
Team news
Lahore are a bowling team with Rashid, Afridi and Rauf outstanding. But their batting leaves a lot to be desired. From Nos 2 to 5 they are not convincing. They're waiting for Harry Brook to turn up to help in that regard.
Possible XI: Fakhar, Baig, Hope, Ghulam, Talat, Raza, Wiese, Rashid Khan, Afridi, Rauf, Zaman
Zalmi are reliant on runs from Babar Azam. The problem is he's just not getting them quick enough. As he did at Karachi he's playing for himself and putting pressure on those below him.
Possible XI: Haris, Babar, Ayub, Kohler-Cadmore, Powell, Neesham, Shanaka, Wahab, Muqeem, Usman Qadir, Arshad
Pitch report
Twelve of the last 25 at the Gaddafi Stadium have seen scores of 170 or more in first-innings. But the majority of those came early in the previous PSL on fresh pitches.
This might be a surface that slows up due to wear and tear. Both batting sides have poor runs rates with the bat this term - Lahore at 8 and Zalmi at 8.5. A high par line in the 170s is probably a short.
How to play
Lahore are 1.728/11 with Zalmi 2.3211/8. Lahore are the defending champions but their batting doesn't look worthy of the name at present. Zalmi can match up quite well against them.
Last season 13 from 19 matches were won by the side batting first. We'll keep the toss bias on size with Zalmi at similar odds and look them to flip the odds to trade green both sides.
Tops value
Babar is 2/1 for top Zalmi bat but we're keener on Dasun Shanaka at 16s because we reckon a promotion up the order is imminent. For Lahore, Sikandar Raza and David Wiese fit the bill for top bat at 17/2 and 16s respectively.