the pitch tomorrow,” SSGC manager Saeed Asif said.
UBL, who lead with 29 points, will have the support of Pakistan’s most accomplished batsman Younis Khan, who will play his first game for the side after his transfer from HBL recently.
Port Qasim Authority (PQA), who are at the fourth spot in Group A with ten points, will face second-placed Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad.
Skipper Khalid Latif last week kept PQA alive with a match-saving 134 against Peshawar. He batted for all three sessions before giving a 34-run target to Peshawar in 13 overs. The hosts were 10-1 in two overs when bad light forced the end of the game at Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar.
SNGPL will miss Misbah-ul-Haq and Umar Akmal. Umar is part of Pakistan’s T20 squad for the T20 series against England in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Misbah, who played against Lahore Blues at Lahore last week, has proceeded to Dhaka to join his BPL side Rangpur Riders.
Misbah hit a spectacular 39-ball 61 with four sixes and three fours to guide Rangpur Riders to a two-wicket victory over Chittagong Vikings in a nail-biter on Sunday.
The losers had Pakistan’s Test pacer Mohammad Amir, who produced his career-best figures of 4-30.
Pakistan’s one-day skipper Azhar Ali is expected to play his first game for SNGPL after his return from the UAE where he was part of Pakistan’s squad for Test and One-day series against England.
HBL will be pitted against KRL at National Ground in Islamabad. They will miss Pakistan’s T20 captain Shahid Afridi, who will lead the country in the three-match T20 series against England in the UAE this week.
Afridi was part of HBL in their last game which they won by an innings and 56 runs against Lahore Whites at LCCA Ground in Lahore.
Imran Farhat-led HBL trail third in Group B with 13 points. Their initial two matches were hit by rain.
In other outings, Islamabad will meet Hyderabad at Diamond Club Ground in the federal capital, while Peshawar will meet Lahore Blues at the LCCA Ground Lahore.
HBL’s opener Fakhar Zaman leads the batting chart with 391 runs. He is followed by Asif Zakir (SSGC, 357), Umair Khan (UBL, 331), Zain Abbas (KRL, 324), Zohaib Khan (Peshawar, 320), Fawad Alam (NBP, 317), Abid Ali (Islamabad, 306), Imran Butt (SNGPL, 304) and Azeem Ghumman (Hyderabad, 304).