Multan Sultans put their top spot on the line against Karachi Kings

Mushtaq A. Subhani

March 06, 2020

The 19th match in the fifth edition of the Pakistan Super League will be played tonight between Karachi Kings and Multan Sultans at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.

Both teams have played five matches so far but Multan have an edge, leading the points table with eight points against Karachi's six.

The Sultans have won four matches and lost only one while the Kings have won three and lost two.

Multan Sultans are participating in the PSL since 2018 and secured fifth position in the last two editions, while Karachi Kings are taking part in PSL since its inception and have achieved third place in two successive years (2017 and 2018) and were placed fourth in 2016 and 2019.

In the current tournament, both teams have already played each other once on February 28 in Multan, where the hosts beat Karachi by 52 runs.

Now they are playing each other for second time in the tournament.

The Kings, being led by all-rounder Imad Wasim, have good players in the side but they depend mainly on Babar Azam, who has been a prolific scorer. Others include batsmen Alex Hales, Sharjeel Khan, Cameron Delport, Awais Zia, wicketkeeper-batsmen Mohammad Rizwan and Chadwick Walton.

Their bowling department, being led by left-arm fast bowler Mohammad Amir, includes Chris Jordan, Umaid Asif, Usama Mir, Umar Khan, Ali Khan and Mitchell McClenagham along side all-rounders Iftikhar Ahmed and Aamer Yamin.

The Sultans are being captained by opening batsman Shan Masood. They have veteran all-rounder Shahid Afridi along with batsmen Ravi Bopara, Rilee Rossouw, James Vince, Wayne Madsen, Rohail Nazir and Khushdil Shah.

England's allrounder Moeen Ali is also playing for them besides bowlers Sohail Tanvir, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan, Bilawal Bhatti, Imran Tahir, Usman Qadir and Mohammad Ilyas.

Both teams are balanced and it is expected that spectators and viewers will enjoy an interesting game tonight.