PSL 2021: Quetta Gladiators face off against Multan Sultans in Abu Dhabi today

KARACHI: After upsetting Lahore Qalandars by 18 runs last night, the bottom-placed Quetta Gladiators will be aiming to pull another upset and keep themselves afloat in the competition when the former champions face Multan Sultans in match 25 of PSL 2021 in Abu Dhabi today (Wednesday).

The Sarfaraz-led side didn’t have a good start at the Abu Dhabi leg and lost two consecutive games before beating a good-looking Lahore side by 18 runs. But despite the win over PSL 2020’s finalists, Quetta will have to do a lot to keep the momentum going as their batting remains a main cause of worry for the team management.

PSL 2021: Quetta Gladiators fixtures for Abu Dhabi leg of tournament

Meanwhile, the Multan Sultans went off to a flying start in Abu Dhabi. The Mohammad Rizwan-led unit has won both its matches and looks confident.

They’ve won three of their seven matches and are currently at 4th place with six points, above Karachi on the net run rate.

For Sultans, the current form of its captain Rizwan is highly encouraging. Sohaib Maqsood also seems to be in a flamboyant mood, with an intention to go on a rampage against bowlers. Young Shahnawaz Dahani is also back in form with a 4-fer in the last match and aims to remain the top bowler of the tournament.

Quetta, on other hand, will have to see if Faf du Plessis will be available for the contest or not after he decided to opt out of the game against Lahore Qalandars on Tuesday. The Gladiators will also hope for another mature innings from captain Sarfaraz Ahmed.

The performance of bowlers against Lahore will be a morale booster for Sarfaraz and he will ask them to repeat the show against Southern Punjab side on Wednesday.

PSL 2021: Quetta Gladiators beat Multan Sultans by 22 runs

The Gladiators will also have a psychological edge over Multan as their only win before beating Lahore in this tournament was against Multan, during the Karachi leg of the tournament. Young Usman Khan had then scored 81 off 50 balls.

Players to watch

Mohammad Rizwan and Shahnawaz Dahani (Multan Sultans) Jake Weatherald & Azam Khan (Quetta Gladiators)

Squads:

Multan Sultans: Mohammad Rizwan (c), Asif Afridi, Hammad Azam, Imran Tahir, Imran Khan Snr, Johnson Charles, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Umar, Blessing Muzarabani, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rilee Rossouw, Shahnawaz Dhani, Shan Masood, Sohaib Maqsood, Sohaibullah, Sohail Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Usman Qadir and Muhammad Waseem.

Quetta Gladiators: Sarfaraz Ahmed (c), Abdul Nasir, Arish Ali Khan, Azam Khan, Cameron Delport, Faf du Plessis, Hassan Khan, Jack Wildermuth, Jake Weatherald, Khurram Shehzad, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Usman Khan, Usman Shinwari, Zahid Mahmood and Zahir Khan