Karachi:Karachi Kings and Lahore Qalandars will face-off in the 26^th fixture of the HBL Pakistan Super League under National Stadium floodlights on Thursday with both the sides aiming to strengthen their chances of qualifying for next week’s playoffs.

The match is further spiced up following last week’s thriller at the jam-packed Gaddafi Stadium in which Lahore Qalandars chased down out a 188-run target for the loss of two wickets to leave Karachi Kings shell-shocked.

On the points table, Qalandars, thanks to their three consecutive victories, are occupying third place on eight points from as many matches, while Kings are sitting fifth on seven points. However, Kings have played one less match with all their last three league fixtures scheduled in front of their home fans.

While this will be Qalandars’ first match at the National Stadium, Kings will be appearing in their third match at the venue. Kings had made an impressive start when they scored 201 for four, event’s second-highest team score to date, and then restricted Peshawar Zalmi to 191 for seven. But they were at the wrong end of the stick against Quetta Gladiators when they lost by five wickets despite restricting the reigning champions to 55 for three after they had been set a 157-run target.

Qalandars’ remarkable comeback has been driven by their Australian overseas player Ben Dunk. The 33-year-old Queenslander has scored 257 runs, including a punishing 93 against Gladiators and a ruthless 99 not out against Kings. Dunk is now just nine runs behind the tournament’s leading run-getter Islamabad United’s Luke Ronchi (266 runs in eight matches).

The other positive news for Qalandars has been the return to form of Fakhar Zaman and Chris Lynn, who stroked half-centuries against Peshawar Zalmi on Tuesday while adding 116 runs for the second wicket. Fakhar now has 172 runs, while Lynn is six runs behind on 166.

Fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi has been Qalandars’ leading wicket-taker with 11 wickets, but the real contributor has been Samit Patel. The 35-year-old has taken nine wickets and scored 132 runs.

Karachi Kings have relied heavily on Alex Hales and Babar Azam, and the stats confirm this fact as the two are sitting in the 200-run group. Hales has 239 runs and is sixth on the list of leading run-getters, while Babar has scored 225 and is ninth.

However, Kings have been provided the real impetus in the middle of the innings by Chadwick Walton who has scored his 115 runs at a staggering strike-rate of 162.

With Kings preparing to launch for the crucial matches, they will be hoping Imad Wasim and Sharjeel Khan return to form. The two have scored 95 and 88 runs, respectively.

Mohammad Amir is Kings’ leading wicket-taker with 10 wickets, followed by Chris Jordon (seven) and Imad Wasim and Umer Khan (four apiece).

Apart from the Karachi Kings-Lahore Qalandars high-profile fixture, the other mouth-watering match is expected to be between Karachi Kings and Islamabad United on 14 March.

Irrespective of how Thursday’s match pans out, Saturday’s match may potentially end United’s journey if they end up on the losing side. United, the two-time winners, have seven points and their fixture against Kings will be their last league match.

With Multan Sultans already assured of a place in the play-offs, Peshawar Zalmi will be eying for a place in the last four when they will lock horns with Sultans on Friday. The match will start at 8pm.

Friday’s match will be Zalmi’s last league match. They are presently sitting second on the points table and have nine points with four wins. A win against Sultans will guarantee them a place in the last-four.

Karachi will also be the venue of the Qualifier, when the top-two sides will feature on Tuesday, 17 March. The winner of this match will qualify for the 22 March final, while the losing side will have another opportunity to qualify for the final when they will take on the winner of 18 March fixture on 20 March.

Meanwhile, the Office of the Commissioner Karachi has issued the following advisory for spectators who will be attending matches at the National Stadium:

·         Wash your hands with soap / alcoholic sanitizers after coughing or sneezing, before and after eating food and after toilet use;

·         Use tissue papers / handkerchief while sneezing;

·         Properly dispose off used tissue papers / handkerchief etc. in dust bins; 

·         In case of any symptoms of flu and cough, avoid coming into the stadium;

·         Avoid hand shaking and hugging with each other;

·         Avoid close contact when anyone is experiencing cough and fever 

·         Avoid touching unnecessarily chairs / railings and steel bars in the stadium; 

·         Avoid spitting, throwing water, food, empty bottles and wrappers in open in the stadium.

Upcoming matches in Karachi:

12 March – Karachi Kings v Lahore Qalandars (7pm-10.15pm)

13 March – Peshawar Zalmi v Multan Sultans (8pm-11.15pm)

14 March – Karachi Kings v Islamabad United (7pm-10.15pm)

15 March –Quetta Gladiators v Karachi Kings (7pm-10.15pm)

17 March – Qualifier (1 vs 2) (7pm-10.15pm)

Previous HBL PSL 2020 results in Karachi:

Islamabad United (168) lost to Quetta Gladiators (171-7, 18.3 overs) by three wickets

Karachi Kings (201-4) beat Peshawar Zalmi (191-7) by 10 runs

Quetta Gladiators (148-5) lost to Peshawar Zalmi (153-4, 18.3 overs) by six wickets

Karachi Kings (156-9) lost to Quetta Gladiators (157-5, 19 overs) by five wickets

Points table (before the start of tonight’s match between Quetta Gladiators and Multan Sultans)

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Australia 3 for 138 (Maxwell 39, Short 36*) beat England 7 for 137 (Buttler 46, Richardson 3-33) by seven wickets
Australia suffocated England with the ball and hammered them with the bat to register three Twenty20 wins from three games and secure a place in the triangular series final as the series moves to New Zealand after the match at the MCG on Saturday night.

In front of a crowd of 42,691 for the closing fixture of the international summer, the Australians galloped to their target with 33 balls to spare, as Chris Lynn, D’Arcy Short and Glenn Maxwell all contributed. The fit-again Aaron Finch then put an exclamation mark on the result with a pair of mighty sixes off the bowling of David Willey, after he had been demoted to No. 5 to allow the younger Short to continue his impressive audition alongside the stand-in captain David Warner.

Another low score for Warner was just about the only trouble spot for the Australians, with Billy Stanlake, Kane Richardson, Marcus Stoinis, AJ Tye and Ashton Agar all bowling exemplary spells with the ball. They were well and truly backed up in the field, epitomised by Warner’s quicksilver running throw to beat Dawid Malan and Agar’s athletic running take to dismiss Jos Buttler at the end of a halting England innings.

Buttler had been the only England batsman to make a substantial score, but even he was at less than his best, a rare occasion when he scored below a run a ball. All of the visiting bowlers suffered for the fact they had few runs to defend, while also lacking the advice of their captain Eoin Morgan, ruled out with a muscle strain before play.

Though he has led the team expertly and energetically in the field, Warner has found himself mired in a rut with the bat, and Willey’s early away swing proved too much for his minimal footwork, resulting in a thin edge behind in the very first over of the chase. Lynn was once again beaten by the ball moving back into him first up, but this time saw the ball squirt away towards the off side rather than thudding into the stumps.

Duly reprieved, Lynn set about clobbering some trademark blows, cutting short balls over the off side field, swinging a leg-side delivery over the rope behind square leg, then arrowing a boundary to wide long-on. His stay was eventful but brief, ending with a top edge from the bowling of Chris Jordan that settled comfortably into the gloves of Buttler.

A career opener for Australia, the returned Aaron Finch found himself shuffled down as far as No. 5 with Maxwell coming in at the fall of Lynn’s wicket, and quickly reprising his effective Hobart stand with Short. The pair found the boundary consistently in bringing down the target, taking a particularly heavy toll on Liam Dawson’s flat left-arm spin. Tom Curran was also expensive, while Adil Rashid was unable to claim the rush of wickets England desperately needed to be a chance.

Maxwell’s third substantial contribution of the series ended with 22 runs still required, as he swung presumptuously at a slower bouncer from Jordan and skied another catch for Buttler, but this at least afforded Finch the chance to bat for the first time since he was injured last month. He duly accompanied Short to the finish, leaving Australia’s players with three T20 wins from three in this series and a spring in their step ahead of the Allan Border Medal awards ceremony in Melbourne on Monday night.

The visitors were shorn of the services of Morgan due to a right groin strain suffered at training on Friday, Dawson and James Vince coming into the team and Buttler standing in as leader. Mark Wood was dropped. In the final international match of the Australian summer, Finch returned for the hosts following a hamstring strain that he suffered during the preceding ODI series, but significantly Short was retained at the top of the order and Travis Head left out of the team that won in Hobart.

Stanlake had been harshly dealt with by England’s batsmen in that match, but this time he was able to get into the game early when Alex Hales skied one in the first over and Finch made decent ground running with the flight of the ball towards the boundary from mid-on to hold a juggling catch. Jason Roy’s quiet series continued when he tried to run Richardson towards third man but succeeded only in snicking to Alex Carey – a very 1990s ODI dismissal – and Malan could last only 10 balls for as many runs when he was brilliantly thrown out by Warner from mid-on, the captain picking up and throwing in virtually the same motion.

These early blows caused England to pull back on their customary aggression, but the fall of regular wickets meant this policy did not work particularly well either. The recalled Vince was fooled and yorked by a terrific slower ball from Tye, before Sam Billings’ useful union with Buttler was ended by a mistimed swing and a catch for Warner at mid-off. Billings had been fired out earlier for a deflection behind off the bowling of Stoinis, but his use of England’s lone review showed the ball had struck trouser rather than glove.

Willey seldom needs an excuse to swing hard, and first ball of the final over he found the boundary with a miscue over Carey’s head, before another top edge skewed into the off side and allowed Warner to claim another catch. The excellent Richardson was to claim his third wicket when Buttler tried to clear the fence from the final ball of the innings, but could not quite reach the sight screen, where Agar, who had also been economical with the ball, made a running chance look far less difficult than it was. Australia’s T20 fortunes have taken a decided turn for the better; Warner and company will hope they stay that way after the flight to New Zealand.

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Speaking to media during a team practice session in Hamilton on Monday, Arthur said he was disappointed at how the team’s batting had fared in the first three ODIs.

“No excuses, [our batsmen] are far better than this,” said the coach about the batting collapse in the third match where Pakistan were bowled out for 74, as New Zealand took the five-match series 3-0.

“But our motivation is still very, very high. We have still got two ODIs left. We will make no excuses; we have to be better as a batting unit, we have to learn to bat in conditions different from home.”

Arthur confirmed there will be a couple of batting changes [in order and combination] before the team takes on New Zealand in the fourth ODI at Seddon Park, Hamilton on Tuesday, January 16.

“[After working so hard in the nets], it is frustrating to lose, we have been working exceptionally hard,” he said, as he heaped praise on the Black Caps.

“New Zealand bowlers have been exceptional.. [credit to coach] Mike Hesson for building such a strong unit.”

The Green Shirts trained at Seddon Park ahead of tomorrow’s day/night fixture.

Tuesday’s match will start at 6am Pakistan Standard time.

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