Zalmi hope to overcome heat and Qalandars

KARACHI: Having six points from five games, former champions Peshawar Zalmi will be looking to brave up the Abu Dhabi heat when they face Lahore Qalandars in their opener of the second leg of the HBL PSL-6 at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium on Thursday (today).

The match starts at 11pm PST.

Lahore will have a psychological advantage over Zalmi as in the Karachi leg Sohail Akhtar-led Qalandars had defeated Wahab Riaz-led Zalmi by four wickets at the National Stadium on February 21.

As Lahore were scheduled to face Islamabad United in the first game on Wednesday they would read the conditions and could then exploit that experience against Zalmi, which is being coached by Darren Sammy.

Qalandars’s skipper Sohail Akhtar on Tuesday said that they had the best combination and every possible effort would be made to correct their PSL previous record in the UAE.

Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Rashid Khan and Shaheen Afridi will have to play an effective role in Lahore’s mission against Zalmi, who will expect David Miller, Fidel Edwards, Kamran Akmal, Haider Ali, Sherfane Rutherford, Shoaib Malik, and Wahab Riaz to shine.

Lahore Qalandars – Sohail Akhtar (c), Ahmed Danyal, Ben Dunk, Callum Ferguson, Dilbar Hussain, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, James Faulkner, Maaz Khan, Mohammad Faizan, Mohammad Hafeez, Rashid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Seekuge Prasana, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sultan Ahmed, Tim David, Zaid Alam and Zeeshan Ashraf.