Multan Sultans vs Peshawar Zalmi Predictions, Odds, Picks
Multan Sultan: Shan Masood, Mohammad Rizwan (c & wk), Sohaib Maqsood, Johnson Charles, Tim David, Khushdil Shah, Anwar Ali/Ihsanullah, Abbas Afridi, Imran Tahir, Blessing Muzarabani, Shahnawaz Dahani
Peshawar Zalmi: Hazratullah Zazai, Kamran Akmal/Tom Kohler-Cadmore (wk), Haider Ali, Shoaib Malik, Ben Cutting, Sherfane Rutherford, Wahab Riaz (c), Hussain Talat/Saqib Mahmood, Sameen Gul/Mohammad Umar, Usman Qadir, Salman Irshad
Multan Sultans Might Prove to Be Too Hot to Handle for Inconsistent Peshawar Zalmi
Pakistan Super League’s defending champions Multan Sultans have started the 2022 edition of the mega event exactly from where they left the last one. Mohammad Rizwan’s men have won all of their first five matches and are placed at the top of the table.
They started their season with a 7-wicket triumph against Karachi Kings, which was followed by a 5-wicket win over Lahore Qalanders. Quetta Gladiators did give them a run of their money in their fourth match, but the Sultans eventually sealed the victory by six runs. Multan have defeated Islamabad United and Peshawar Zalmi in their previous two outings.
On the other hand, Peshawar started their campaign with a win against Quetta, but then suffered consecutive defeats against Islamabad United and Lahore Qalanders. After a narrow win against Karachi Kings in their fourth match, Wahab Riaz’s men failed to sustain the momentum and suffered a comprehensive defeat in their last match against the Sultans, by 57 runs.
Team News
Given their outstanding display in the last match against Peshawar Zalmi, Multan Sultans do not necessarily need to change their playing XI. Having said that, there is room for one tweak. Anwar Ali is going through a rough phase and the last outing saw him conceding 36 runs in his three overs at an economy rate of 12 runs per over, without picking up any wicket. He could be replaced by Ihsanullah, the promising teenager from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who got a wicket against Lahore Qalandars.
On the contrary, the Peshawar Zalmi management is expected to make wholesale changes to their team after a disappointing outing against the Sultans. Veteran wicketkeeper-batter Kamran Akmal could score only 10 runs in the last match and he might be replaced by Englishman Tom Kohler-Cadmore, who has experience of keeping wickets. Another Englishman in Saqib Mahmood might have to make way for Hussain Talat, while for conceding nine runs per over in his last match, Mohammad Umar could be replaced the Sameen Gul, the youngster from Jamrud who already has two wickets to his name.
Key Players
Shan Masood: Shan Masood is a man on a mission – determined to prove the national selectors that he has the ability to dominate in every format of the game. With 275 runs in five innings, he is currently the leading run-scorer of Multan Sultans. Masood played a crucial knock of 35 runs in his last match, while he also has a couple of half-centuries to his name which came against the Quetta Gladiators and the Lahore Qalanders. The 32-year-old has crossed the 25-run mark in every single match so far.
Shoaib Malik: Peshawar Zalmi have a few talented youngsters in their ranks, but with none of them showing promise, they have found a saviour in the experienced Shoaib Malik. The all-rounder, who recently celebrated his 40th birthday, has scored 143 runs in five innings and is the only player from his team to cross the 125-run mark. Besides that, he has also picked up a couple of wickets at an economy rate of 7.83 runs per over. Malik’s best performance came against the Karachi Kings, where he scored unbeaten 52 runs and also got a wicket.
