PSL 2018, Match 22: Karachi Kings vs Multan Sultans – Match Predictions

It was not too long back that Multan Sultans and Karachi Kings were absolutely dominating the ongoing third edition of PSL, but momentum is a huge factor in these T20 leagues. Once you lose it, you can come down very, very quickly and that’s what has happened with these two teams as all of a sudden, they find themselves in a bit of a trouble having lost two games in a row.

Karachi Kings, in particular, will be more concerned as both their losses have been huge ones. The opposition has absolutely bulldozed them unlike what was the case earlier in the tournament where they were offering similar kind of treatments to the opponents. They will be seeking a quick turn of the corner and so will Multan Sultans.

Probable nature of the pitch

The pitch will be a batting deck and the par score will be around 180. The general trend so far has been to bat first, put big runs on the board and then apply the scoreboard pressure on the team batting second and the captains will look to follow that trend. The likely decision at the toss from whichever captain who wins it will be to bat first, which will be a right one too.

Playing Combination

Karachi Kings

Shahid Afridi returned for Karachi the other evening against Quetta and they put him right at the top of the order hoping an explosion from the dashing all-rounder, but it didn’t go as per plan as Afridi looked completely rusty and could score just 1 off 6 balls. He was alright with the ball though and bowled an economical spell, however, the kind of ability he possesses, the management will expect him to do his bit with the bat too in this game. They possibly will open with him again as if he fires there, he will win the game on his own.

Karachi also pushed Babar Azam down to 4 the previous game which was not the wisest of the moves. Babar is ideally suited for no. 3 and if anything he can only be moved up from there and can possibly be put at the opening slot rather than being demoted because he is a player with deft touch and doesn’t bring that much value when he comes out to bat in the second half of the innings. If Afridi and Deny open, Karachi will possibly place Babar back to his normal position of 3 which means Collin Ingram will bat 4.

Karachi has four good T20 bowlers in the form of Imad Wasim, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Amir and Usman Khan Shenwari, but the 5^th bowler’s quota is proving to be a slight headache as both Mohammad Irfan Jnr and David Wiese proved to be expensive last game. They are however likely to be persisted with and the skipper Imad will want better control from them with possibly a breakthrough or two as well.

Predicted XI: Ravi Bopara, Joe Denly, Mohammad Amir, David Wiese, Colin Ingram, Shahid Afridi, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Imad Wasim (c), Mohammad Irfan Jnr, Usman Khan

Multan Sultans

Multan Sultans batting has been pretty hot and cold in this tournament. When they have got going, they have absolutely nailed it, but when they have had an off day, they have produced horrible displays with the bat and their last outing against Lahore Qalandars was one of those days where they just surrendered to the rookie left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi.

Their bowlers later tried their best, but the score that they posted was never going to be enough to win the match. They will like to bat better in this game because bowling hasn’t quite been the issue for them in any of the games in the tournament. It’s always been there and thereabouts, it’s just the batting which has let them down on occasions and they will be pretty keen not to have another batting collapse in the remaining part of the tourney.

A change in their XI is unlikely. They have had pretty much a settled XI right through PSL 3 and barring any last-second injury, they will be going with the same set of players they went within the Qalandars game.

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

Probable Top Performers

Shahid Afridi (Karachi Kings) | Sohail Tanvir (Multan Sultans)

Head to Head

Matches – 1, Karachi Kings – 0, Multan Sultans – 0, N/R – 1

The timing of the match: 05:00 pm IST

Broadcast Details

TV – D Sport

The prediction is for the Multan Sultans to beat the Karachi Kings in this match.