In the sixth match of the 2023 Pakistan Super League season, Karachi Kings will take on Quetta Gladiators. The match will be played at the National Stadium in Karachi on Saturday.
Karachi Kings did not get the start they would have expected, as they were handed a two-run defeat in their first match by Peshawar Zalmi. Hence, the 2020 PSL champions will be desperate to avoid a second consecutive defeat.
Quetta Gladiators’ story is the same, as they too started their campaign with a defeat. Up against Multan Sultans in their opening encounter, the 2019 PSL winners suffered a nine-wicket defeat at the Multan Cricket Stadium.
What Have They Done So Far?
Bowling first in their first match against Peshawar, Karachi Kings could not live up to the expectations and ended up conceding 199 runs, as both Babar Azam and Tom Kohler-Cadmore scored half-centuries.
In response, the Kings lost four wickets with just 46 runs on the scoreboard, but then came fantastic knocks from Shoaib Malik and skipper Imad Wasim. Both of them scored half-centuries, but it proved to be inadequate as the Kings scored 197 runs.
Quetta Gladiators’ opening game was all about a collective batting failure, as they could only score 110 runs against Multan Sultans. Besides Jason Roy and Mohammad Hasnain, no batter could score over 20 runs.
In response, Nuwan Thushara got the wicket of Shan Masood in only the second wicket, but a superb knock from Rilee Rossouw took the game away from the game. The Sultans chased the total in the 14th minute at the loss of only one wicket.
Head to Head Record
The head-to-head records are inclined in favour of Quetta Gladiators. Ahmed’s men have defeated Karachi in 9 of the previous 14 meetings, while the Kings have had the last laugh on only five occasions.
The last meeting, which took place back in February last year, saw the Gladiators securing a 23-run win. Roy scored a match-winning knock of 82 runs in 64 balls to help his team to a total of 166, while in response, Karachi could only score 143. Khurram Shehzad picked up four wickets for the Gladiators.
Key Players
Imad Wasim (Karachi Kings): If Karachi wants to win this match, they will need their captain Wasim to be at the top of his game. His performance in the last game was a bit of a mixed bag. With the ball, he failed to have any influence and ended up conceding 42 runs in 3 overs with no wickets to his name.
However, Wasim made up for it with his batting performance. He scored an unbeaten 80 from just 47 deliveries at a strike rate of 170.21. His knock included 7 fours and 4 sixes as well.
Jason Roy (Quetta Gladiators): The only batter who looked in good touch for Quetta Gladiators in the last match is Roy. The English opener scored 27 runs from 18 balls, which included three fours and a six as well. Sarfaraz Ahmed will need his opening batter to fire all cylinders again in this match.
In 307 T20 matches, the English batter has scored 7892 runs, which have come at an average of 27.49 and a strike rate of 141.28. Besides that, he also had the experience of playing all over the world in franchise competitions.
Predicted Playing XIs
Karachi Kings: Sharjeel Khan, Matthew Wade, Haider Ali, Shoaib Malik, Qasim Akram, Ben Cutting, Imad Wasim ©, Andrew Tye, Imran Tahir, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Amir.
Quetta Gladiators: Jason Roy, Martin Guptill, Umar Akmal, Sarfaraz Ahmed ©, Mohammad Hafeez, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Abdul Bangalzai, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Nuwan Thushara.
Prediction
While Quetta Gladiators tend to perform well against Karachi Kings, the latter looked much better in their last match than their opponents. With the crowd at the National Stadium also supporting them, we have predicted the Kings to win this match.