PSL 2018, Match 7: Karachi Kings vs Peshawar Zalmi – Match Predictions

Karachi Kings will face the reigning champions Peshawar Zalmi in Match 7 of the ongoing third edition of the Pakistan Super League on Sunday at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. The Zalmi after being toppled by the new boys Multan Sultans on the opening day of the tournament made a comeback by beating the Islamabad United and they will want to back it up with another win over the Kings.

The Kings, on the other hand, registered a convincing win over the last season’s runners-up Quetta Gladiators and began their campaign with a bang. They will be full of confidence walking into this contest as well. With both teams high on quality, the standard of Cricket on display should be a top class on Sunday evening.

Probable nature of the pitch

All the games so far in the PSL have been played in Dubai only and the curators have to re-use the surfaces time and again which has resulted in the pitches getting slower and slower. And speaking about this game, this is the second game of the doubleheader anyway, so the chances of the pitch being slower are even brighter as a full game would already have been played on it during the day.

There hasn’t been any hint of dew so far in any of the games. Batting second has generally been tougher with the pace of the wicket dying down gradually and ball holding up not letting the batsmen play their shots with as much ease as they would like to. Setting up a target is a more profitable prospect in such circumstances and the captains shouldn’t be doing anything different if they have the opportunity to make a decision at the toss.

Playing Combination

Karachi Kings

The Kings were well led by Imad Wasim in their first game. Even though they could post only a modest total on the board batting first, they bowled fantastically well on a slow surface to defend it successfully and the captain did a crucial job himself by opening the bowling and bowling a tight spell, grabbing a couple of crucial breakthroughs as well.

They perhaps will want a little bit of improvement in their batting in comparison to the other evening where they couldn’t quite get the flourish at any stage of the innings. While Babar Azam will be the key batting at no. 3, Shahid Afridi will have a role to play down the order.

There aren’t any changes on the cards for the Kings. None of their overseas picks had a great outing against the Gladiators, but all four of them are reputed names in T20 Cricket and the management will put their trust in them going ahead.

Predicted XI: Khurram Manzoor, Joe Denly, Babar Azam, Colin Ingram, Ravi Bopara, Shahid Afridi, Imad Wasim (C), Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Mohammad Irfan Jr, Mohammad Amir, Tymal Mills

Peshawar Zalmi

Zalmi would be pretty satisfied with the way the domestic players came to the party against Islamabad United. While Kamran Akmal, who has been a consistent performer for them in the past too, set the game with a half-century upfront, it was the duo of Umair Asif and Ibtisam Sheikh who delivered later with the ball sharing 7 wickets between themselves and paving the way for a comprehensive victory.

Zalmi also has a nice balance in the XI just like the Kings and they won’t like to tinker with the winning combination either. Their four overseas picks so far in the two games have been Tamim Iqbal, Dwayne Smith, the captain Darren Sammy himself and Chris Jordan and it should remain the game for this encounter as well.

Predicted XI: Tamim Iqbal, Kamran Akmal (WK), Dwayne Smith, Mohammad Hafeez, Darren Sammy (C), Harris Sohail, Wahab Riaz, Umaid Asif, Ibtisam Sheikh, Chris Jordan, Mohammad Asghar

Here is what CricTracker predicts for the game

Probable Top Performers

Colin Ingram (Karachi Kings) | Tamim Iqbal (Peshawar Zalmi)

Head to Head

Matches – 5, Karachi Kings– 1, Peshawar Zalmi – 4

Timing of the match: 09:30 pm IST

Broadcast Details

TV – D Sport

The prediction is for the Karachi Kings to beat the Peshawar Zalmi in this match.