LAHORE: The Local boy Babar Azam – led Peshawar Zalmi are set to meet Islamabad United in the eliminator 1 of the HBL PSL 8 at the Gaddafi Stadium here on Thursday (tomorrow) night. Peshawar Zalmi and Islamabad United stand at 10-10 in the head to head competitions between the two teams while one match was abandoned.
The Zalmi side will enjoy psychological advantage against the United as they managed to get the better of Islamabad who were restricted to 166 in pursuit of 180 runs in their last match of the group stage in Rawalpindi last Sunday. Islamabad United had beaten Peshawar Zalmi in the other match of the PSL 8 earlier in this edition.
The Zalmis are expected to get partisan support from the Lahore crowd as local boy Babar Azam returns to the iconic Gaddafi stadium to lead, captaining Peshawar Zalmi for first time, his team in yet another playoff fixture of the HBL PSL.
Babar Azam who started cricket in Lahore and Gaddafi Stadium is super batter’s home ground despite the fact he plays for the Peshawar Zalmi. The Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators are the only two teams who have not yet been able to play in front of their home crowds during the past eight editions.
Babar Azam is second on the top batters’ list of the HBL PSL 8 with 416 runs in 9 matches and is only behind Mohammad Rizwan of the Multan Sultans who has scored 483 runs from 10 matches. Babar Azam, the highest run-getter in the PSL, hit first century in the tournament this year.
The Lahore crowds will expect run feast from Babar Azam in his third outing at the home-ground as he scored 7 and 0 in his previous two innings against Lahore Qalandars and Karachi Kings respectively this season.
Wahab Riaz, former captain of Peshawar Zalmi, is the other local boy who will like to produce some sterling bowling performance in one of the all-important matches of their campaign. Bowling has been a point of concern for the Zalmis throughout the tournament as their bowlers twice failed to defend huge totals beyond 240 runs.
Islamabad United are also likely to field three local boys Faheem Ashraf, Hussain Talat and Hasan Ali in the eliminator and the defeat will seal the fate of the team while the winner will play the runner-up of Qalandars and Sultans in the eliminator 2 on March 17 (Friday).