Table-toppers Lahore Qalandars will face Multan Sultans at their home ground, Gaddafi stadium, today (Saturday) as the defending champions look to book their spot in the playoffs of the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL).
A win against Multan will help Lahore, who have 10 points after six games, qualify for the playoffs since Karachi Kings and Quetta Gladiators can no longer bag 12 points in the tournament even if they win their remaining matches.
On the other hand, Multan will also have one foot in the playoffs if they win today as their points tally will increase to 10.
In their previous clash in PSL 8, Lahore defeated Multan by one run after a thrilling encounter.
Speaking ahead of the match, Multan coach Andy Flower stressed the importance of using numbers-based data for analysis.
“Data can get in the way, can slow people down, can create confusion, so how data is interpreted is very important. But how and when you use that information with the players is also vitally important. It can turn some players off and it can be motivational for others. It can provide really interesting starting points to talk about cricket and also give black-and-white feedback to cricketers about how X, Y or Z might be happening and why it might be happening. Data has its place, but it's how it's used that's important,” Flower told ESPNcricinfo.
Meanwhile, Lahore coach Aaqib Javed lauded his team’s world-class bowling attack, which has the likes of Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf and Rashid Khan.
“Bowling always wins you tournaments. Look at our 5-6 bowlers – I think nobody can ever have such an attack in franchise cricket. Even international teams don't have bowling attacks like this,” said Javed.
It must be noted that Lahore won their last match against Quetta by 17 runs, meanwhile Multan suffered a 66-run defeat at the hands of Karachi in their last outing.
Squads
Lahore Qalandars: Shaheen Shah Afridi (c), Fakhar Zaman, Rashid Khan, David Wiese, Hussain Talat, Haris Rauf, Abdullah Shafique, Sikandar Raza, Ahmad Daniyal, Dilbar Hussain, Kamran Ghulam, Mirza Tahir Baig, Shawaiz Irfan, Zaman Khan, Jalat Khan, Jordan Cox (wk), Ahsan Bhatti, Sam Billings (wk) and Shane Dadswell.
Multan Sultans: Mohammad Rizwan (c & wk), David Miller, Shan Masood, Khushdil Shah, Rilee Rossouw, Akeal Hosain, Mohammad Ilyas, Tim David, Usama Mir, Sameen Gul, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Sarwar, Usman Khan, Arafat Minhas, Ihsanullah, Abbas Afridi, Kieron Pollard, Ammad Butt, Carlos Brathwaite and IzharulHaq Naveed.