Multan Sultans v Peshawar Zalmi PSL Tips: Tahir to bamboozle again

Multan Sultans v Peshawar Zalmi
Thursday 10 February 14:30
TV: live on Sky Sports

Sultans won't be stopped

Multan Sultans are ranked second and first respectively for batting and boundary percentage in this tournament. No wonder they are 5-0. They are going to take some stopping.

Currently they are href="https://www.betfair.com/exchange/plus/cricket/market/1.193814712">2.546/4 for the title. There is a real prospect of taking that now and then enjoying those odds in the final.

They have added Johnson Charles to give them terrific late hitting power if the top three don't do it. David Willey has been dropped for Blessing Muzarabani.

Probable XI: Masood, Rizwan, Maqsood, David, Khushdil, Johnson Charles, Anwar Ali, Abbas Afridi, Blessing Muzarabani, Tahir, Dhani

Zalmi middle of the pack

Zalmi are not the best side in the tournament. Nor are they they worst. They are probably content to pick up a win here and there knowing that they will have to negotiate the play-offs.

They are still waiting on Liam Livingstone's availability. He arrived this week but he will have to serve a three-day quarantine period. This game may come too soon.

When Livingstone is available they look a decent outfit. He gives them superior batting power and a useful extra bowling option. They could even afford to pick an extra batter, bringing back Hussain Talat.

Possible XI: Zazai, Akmal, Haider, Shoaib Malik, Rutherford, Cutting, Wahab, Qadir, Umar, Saqib Mahmood.

Pitch report

The tournament has switched from Karachi to Lahore. And some may breathe a sigh of relief because as far as the toss bias was concerned it was becoming tricky to decipher. Eight of the last nine in Karachi were won by the team batting first, busting a huge trend.

In Lahore seven of the last nine in PSL have been won by the chaser. And in October's domestic T20 12 of 15 were won by the chaser.

So there's a clear bias. The nature of the pitch is tricky. In the nine PSL games, in five games both teams busted 170 or more. But in the domestic cup, 160 or more batting first was reached only seven times. Sportsbook's 4.67/2 that both teams score 170 or more is therefore too risky. Check Sportsbook prices here

Hope for Sultans chase

Multan are 1.654/6 which is spot on. Zalmi are rated at 2.466/4. On ability, the prices are about right.

We are relying on the toss to make a bet on Sultans more attractive. In an ideal world they chase and Zalmi perform well enough to get the winners-in-waiting up to around 1.804/5. It may be worth placing an order.

Before the mini break, Sultans smashed Zalmi by 57 runs after posting 222. They could get very short, very quickly if they bat first.

Tops value

Livingstone is listed at 11/4 for top Zalmi bat. We would expect him to open if he is ready to play.

Mohammad Rizwan, who topped against Zalmi and won player of the match, has been boosted to 13/5 by Sportsbook for a repeat. Rizwan has a 31.5% win rate in the last three editions. That's an edge of 3.7%.

With the ball, Sultans's Imran Tahir is returning 42.8% of the time over the same study period. In the Zalmi match he took three wickets to tie with Shahnawaz Dahani. At 5/2 there are worse bets. Check Sportsbook prices here

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