Karachi Kings vs Quetta Gladiators, Pakistan Super League (PSL), Today Match Prediction 24 Feb 2019

kk vs n/a Match Prediction & Analysis

Quetta Gladiators have been the best team so far in the tournament and has won all the matches played until now. Their top order batsmen Shane Watson, Rilee Rossouw and Umar Akmal have been scoring consistently and are in good form. Skipper Sarfaraz scored a match winning fifty in the last match by hitting a six of the last ball to win the match.

Sohail Tanvir is their bowling spearhead and he has been bowling excellently with his variations and control. Young pacers Mohammed Irfan and Ghulam Mudasser provide the much required support to him. Mohammed Nawaz and Aussie Fawad Ahmed share the spin bowling responsibilities. Their team has been functioning a well-gelled unit with their batting and bowling performing equally well. 

Karachi Kings on the other hand are not having a good tournament and has lost three matches in a row.  No batsmen scored a fifty in the last three matches and are struggling to string an effective partnership in the middle. Babar Azam and Liam Livingstone after their excellent partnership of 157 runs in the first match are having a silent tournament after that. Ben Dunk and Aamer Yamin played aggressively at the end last match to help their team post a respectable total.

Experienced Mohammed Amir is the bowling spearhead is taking wickets regularly at the start of the innings. Usman Shinwari and Aamer Yamin needs to complement him and has bowl with more control to stop the run flow consistently. Skipper Imad Wasim is excellent with the ball keeping the run rate down in the middle overs. Lack of pressure from other end is not helping his cause.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Karachi Kings Preview

Key Players:

Colin Munro – Colin Munro`s return will boost the team`s batting and he has a reputation of an destructive batsmen at the top of the innings. His combination with Babar Azam at the opening means now they have No.1 and No.2 ranked T20I batsmen as openers.   

Imad Wasim – Imad Wasim has bowling figures of 2/27, 1/23, 0/26 & 0/22 in the four matches and has bowled his entire quota of 4 over’s in all the matches. Batsmen are finding it difficult to pick his variations.  

Stats from the tournament:

Babar Azam – 133 runs at strike rate 109 (HS – 77, 50s-1)

Mohammed Amir – 6 wickets at an economy of 6.9 RPO (BB – 4/25)

Karachi Kings Predicted Playing XI:

Babar Azam, Liam Livingstone, Colin Munro, Ben Dunk, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Aamer Yamin, Sikandar Raza, Imad Wasim (capt), Mohammad Amir, Umer Khan, Usman Shinwari.

Karachi Kings Actual Playing XI:

Colin Munro, SI Wasim, Mohammad Amir, A Zia, Liam Livingstone, Aamer Yamin, Sohail Khan, Umer Khan, Colin Ingram, Babar Azam, Ben Dunk

Quetta Gladiators Preview

Key Players:

Umar Akmal – Umar Akmal is a classy batsmen who has ability to play aggressively when he is on song. He looks in great touch this tournament and has already scored a match winning 75* in the first match. 

Ghulam Mudasser – Ghulam`s ability to get wickets early and his excellent control in the death over’s were very vital to the team`s victory last match. He is an exciting young talent to watch out for. 

Stats from the tournament:

Shane Watson – 161 runs at strike rate 142 (HS – 81*, 50s-2)

Sohail Tanvir – 7 wickets at an economy of 6.7 RPO (BB –4/21) 

Quetta Gladiators Predicted Playing XI:

Shane Watson, Ahsan Ali, Umar Akmal, Rilee Rossouw, Sarfraz Ahmed (C & Wk), Dwayne Smith, Mohammad Nawaz, Ghulam Mudassar, Sohail Tanvir, Anwar Ali, Fawad Ahmed.

Quetta Gladiators Actual Playing XI:

RR Rossouw, Ghulam Mudassar, SR Watson, S Tanvir, Fawad Ahmed, Anwar Ali, Sarfraz Ahmed, Dwayne Smith, Umar Akmal, Ahsan Ali, Mohammad Nawaz

Weather Conditions

This will be last match at Sharjah ground in this year's PSL. Sharjah pitch is known to aid the bowlers and is known to be average scoring ground. The average scores this season has been around 140-160 runs. The match between Multan Sultans and Lahore Qalanders was the only match were both teams scored over 200 runs here. 

Toss: WIN the toss, BOWL First

Teams are unsure about a safe total in the T20s, so the best option is bowl first. More than 80% teams have chosen to bowl first this season after winning the toss. Quetta Gladiators have all their four matches chasing the total.