United, Sultans vie for spot in HBL PSL final today

KARACHI: And eventually after a tense few days, full of suspense, the time has come to offer even more as the top four teams are set to fight in the playoffs of the HBL PSL-6.

And in what could be a mouth-watering Qualifier the league stage most successful team and former two-time winners Islamabad United will take on the second-placed Multan Sultans at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium on Monday (today) at 6 pm PST.

The winners of this game will make it to the June 24 final.

The losers will meet the winners of the Eliminator-1 which is scheduled to be held between holders Karachi Kings and former winners Peshawar Zalmi at 11 pm PST on Monday night (today).

The United-Sultans qualifier is expected to be a tense affair. Both sides met on Saturday night in their last league game which United eventually won by four wickets after a close finish.

There was no such intensity of approach in that game as it did not matter much for either side. It was just a warm-up show before Monday’s qualifier. Both teams are expected to offer more on Monday.

United have caught a huge momentum as both their batting and bowling have shown a lot of promise almost in every game with little bit of hiccups here and there in both departments at times. It is expected that the well-gelled unit will continue their exploits and will make it to the final at the first hurdle.

Usman Khawaja, Colin Munro, Asif Ali and Iftikhar are in peak form with the willow and skipper Shadab Khan and allrounder Hussain Talat are able to add to the top-order flavour. Hasan Ali, Akif Javed, Mohammad Wasim Junior and Australian leggie Fawad Ahmed can play a huge role in the United’s bowling.

Multan Sultans have a different story. After having won just one game from initial five outings in Karachi Rizwan-led side did a marvellous job in the Abu Dhabi leg to stay in contention. They won the initial four matches to ensure their playoff spot. Although they faced batting issues against United on Saturday in their last league game which they lost by four wickets despite a solid opening stand, overall their performance was exceptional.

Shan Masood, Mohammad Rizwan, Sohaib Maqsood and Khushdil Shah have already produced some class acts and any two of them, if they stay at the wicket; can take away the game from the opposition.

Left-handed Shan seems to be in top nick and so is Sohaib Maqsood who has also developed some new shots and has been prolific in his approach. His role will be vital at a stage when it matters the most.

Rizwan will need to go deep and if Multan face any early hiccup in batting there would be someone at the other end to manage a counter-attack to thwart the opposition’s onslaught.

Multan’s pace-battery is lethal, having Shahnawaz Dhani, Blessing Muzarabani and accurate Imran Khan Senior besides having ageing but agile leggie Imran Tahir. Sohail Tanvir, if included, will add to both batting and bowling as he is a world-class allrounder and has done well so far in both areas.