PSL 2018, Match 13: Quetta Gladiators vs Multan Sultans – Match Predictions

Here's what CricTracker predicts for the game.

Published - 02 Mar 2018, 22:11 IST | Updated - 02 Mar 2018, 22:11 IST

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The rain abandoned game on Friday helped the Multan Sultans to move to no. 2 in the points table with the help of the one point that they got from it and now they will be up against the Quetta Gladiators tomorrow who are sitting at the third position in the standings with 2 wins and 2 losses in 4 games.

Both the teams have had an up and down kind of a run in the tournament. Quetta recovered from the loss in opening game to secure back to back victories, but they lost a close one again in their 4th game against Peshawar Zalmi. Multan, on the other hand, got off to a winning run with two consecutive wins upfront, only to be halted by Islamabad United who handed them quite a thumping.

With the tournament shaping up nicely now and the competition for top 4 getting spicy, there is plenty to play for and this game should turn out to be an exciting affair.

Probable nature of the pitch

The batsmen will have it easy on the Sharjah surface. It should be an evenly paced surface and nothing alarming should happen off the deck. Yes there might be a slight bit of grip and that might bring the spinners into play to some extent, but it won’t spin square for sure. So all in all, it should be a batting pitch and should play the same in both the innings as its only 20 overs per innings. Fielding first will be the correct decision to make for the captain who will have the coin falling in his favour.

Playing Combination

Quetta Gladiators

Quetta Gladiators will be very disappointed with the way they lost the last game. It was well and truly in their grasp before a certain Darren Sammy arrived at the crease and just snatched it away from them.

It would have been a tough pill to swallow for the captain Sarfaraz Ahmed and the entire squad, but they will have to gather themselves quickly as the games keep coming thick and fast in the PSL. They shouldn’t contemplate any change in the XI as it looks pretty balanced at the moment.

They would have loved to have played Jofra Archer for the value he brings to the table with his high skill-set, but the 22-year old has been ruled out of the tournament now with a side strain which means John Hastings will get a longer rope.

Hastings is a pretty canny sort of a bowler on subcontinent surfaces as he bowls into the pitch and takes the pace off the ball pretty smartly to outfox the batsman. Also, he is a handy hitter down the order with the bat and is not a bad package to have in this format.

Predicted XI: Asad Shafiq, Shane Watson, Kevin Pietersen, Sarfaraz Ahmed (C), Umar Amin, Rilee Rossouw, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Khan, Anwar Ali, John Hastings, Rahat Ali

Multan Sultans

Multan Sultans should also go with an unchanged XI. Their batting had collapsed against United, but those were the same batsmen who had performed fantastically in the previous two games and there is no way the team management will lose trust in them this soon.

Kumar Sangakkara will be the man from whom the team management will expect some solidity at the top of the order. If he bats through the innings and the others play freely around him, that will be absolutely ideal for Multan.

The captain Shoaib Malik has hit the ball cleanly and that’s good news for Multan. Malik had struggled big time on the New Zealand tour ahead of the PSL and there were a few concerns about his form coming into the tournament, but he has batted magnificently so far and has led the team by example.

Another handy knock by the right-hander down at no. 5 will be good from Multan’s point of view, while they will also hope for the West Indian power hitter Kieron Pollard to fire.

Predicted XI: Kumar Sangakkara, Ahmed Shehzad, Sohaib Maqsood, Shoaib Malik (C), Kieron Pollard, Darren Bravo, Sohail Tanvir, Saif Badar, Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Imran Tahir