Zalmi, Gladiators to faceoff in first eliminator today
Regaining champions Peshawar Zalmi to face the challenge of Quetta Gladiators in the first eliminator match today at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore.
Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium to host 2 playoff matches before the big final of HBL-PSL 3 to be played at National Cricket stadium Karachi but for now Lahore is the center of attention for the spectators and players.
In the first eliminators today, Peshawar Zamli appears to be the favorites as it gets the services of full Zalmi squad including the foreign players and almost all the foreign players including the skipper West Indian Darren Sammy have landed in Lahore ahead of Quetta clash. Other foreign players for Zalmi are Liam Dawson, Rikki Wessels, Chris Jordan, Tamim Iqbal and Andre Fletcher. They however lost the services of Dwayne Smith who returns for family commitments.
On the other hand, Gladiators are facing bigger issues as they lost the services of key foreign players like England opener Jason Roy, Australian veteran Shane Watson, star batsman Kevin Pietersen and all-rounder Ben Laughlin. However, Rilee Rossouw have arrived today and Quetta will get the replacements that includes Sri Lankan Thisara Perera, West Indian Johnson Charles, Bangaldesh’s Mahmudullah, England’s Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Chris Green.
Quetta team coach Moin Khan is confident that Gladiators have more firepower and are capable of making things right for them with combine team effort and they will go all out to beat the Zamli’s in the eliminator match.
Peshawar on the other hand are confident that they certainly got the momentum back on very right time with back-to-back victories and they are confident to seal the final berth against Islamabad after beating both Quetta and Karachi in upcoming matches.
Zalmi’s were down and out and to remain in the top four they needed to win last two group matches and they did it with the some great individual but overall combined efforts and now their hopes are high against Quetta Gladiators.
Match between Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmi to start at 7:00pm (PST) and hopefully we have to the match in front of a pack house today.
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