Lahore:With the noose tightening around them, Quetta Gladiators face Multan Sultans in their Pakistan Super League match at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium tonight.
Gladiators whose performance has been below the belt this tournament sit at the bottom of the points table with six points from eight matches.
On the other hands, Sultans who only made their debut two editions ago, lead the points table with 11 points from seven games. The Sultans have won five games, lost only one while one of their game produced no result.
The last time the two teams faced each other in the tournament, Rilee Rossouw ran riot scoring a 44-ball century to take Sultans to the top of the table.
Sultans will once again be relying on Rossouw along with skipper Shan Masood who has been hitting it out of the park for Multan.
Imran Tahir has been impressive in the bowling department having picked up 10 wickets with veteran Sohail Tanvir picking seven wickets so far.
Quetta, led by Sarfaraz Ahmed have another strong squad with the likes of Shane Watson who has scored 181 runs this season and Jason Roy who is the top scorer for the Gladiators with 233 runs from eight games.
Teenage pacer Mohammad Hasnain is leading the bowling charts with 14 wickets from eight games with a best of 4-25.
With only two matches left in the league stage including this one, the Gladiators will have to make sure they win both to make it to the playoffs.
The match between Quetta Gladiators and Multan Sultans will begin at 7pm.
Squads
Multan Sultans: Shan Masood (captain), Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Irfan, James Vince, Junaid Khan, Moeen Ali, Rilee Rossouw, Zeeshan Ashraf, Ravi Bopara, Sohail Tanvir, Ali Shafiq, Khushdil Shah, Usman Qadir, Fabian Allen, Mohammad Ilyas, Rohail Nazir, Imran Tahir, Bilawal Bhatti, Wayne Madsen
Quetta Gladiators: Sarfaraz Ahmed (captain), Mohammad Nawaz, Shane Watson, Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hasnain, Ahsan Ali, Naseem Shah, Jason Roy, Ben Cutting, Fawad Ahmed, Sohail Khan, Tymal Mills, Abdul Nasir, Arish Ali Khan, Azam Khan, Keemo Paul, Khurram Manzoor, Zahid Mehmood