Peshawar will meet struggling Quetta in today’s only encounter in Pak T20 League 2021 to look to strengthen its position in the points table. Meanwhile, Quetta will take this game as the knockout game to avoid an early elimination call.
Match Timings: June 12, 9:30 PM IST
Match Preview
Peshawar will be back in action after a disappointing defeat to Lahore by just 10 runs. Their Abu Dhabi leg started on a negative note which can hurt them later in the playoffs game. With four more games to go, they cannot afford one more loss here. After winning three out of the first four, Peshawar suffered two consecutive losses in Pak T20 League 2021.
After picking 4 early wickets, Peshawar allowed Ben Dunk and Tim David to revive Lahore. Faulkner’s late finish helped Lahore to get 170. Peshawar also lost its openers in the first two overs. Miller and Malik constructed the chase but run-rate pressure haunt them till the end. After the wicket of Malik, they lost the battle who scored 73 off 48 balls. He didn’t get support from another end. Peshawar has to improve their middle-order game if they look to cross the line in Abu Dhabi. The surface is like Karachi and it requires early acceleration to take the game closer to the total. They failed to deliver against the spin and Rashid bagged a fifer for Lahore. Either Powell or Allen might be dropped this time. One more loss can push them to the bottom two.
Meanwhile, Quetta has a final chance to stay in the contention for the top four and it’s a perfect time for Sarfaraz to overcome Peshawar. Quetta’s story has been pretty disappointing and after a dull performance in Karachi, they started Abu Dhabi leg in a poor way. Islamabad thrashed Quetta last night and it has given Sarfaraz an alarm to get ready for the elimination. The former winner failed to deliver with the bat and bowled out on just 133. Only Weatherald looked perfect who scored 43. Russell got a good start after smashing two consecutive sixes but he couldn’t add more runs to Quetta’s innings. Bowling was more pathetic for them as Colin Munro and Usman Khawaja made this chase a cakewalk. They finished the chase in just 10 overs to hammer Quetta in their first game at Abu Dhabi.
Quetta now have four more games to go and they have just two points in pocket. If they win tonight, they will be still two-point behind to the fourth spot so each game is a do-die game for them. If they lose, chances for the playoffs will be die as Peshawar will reach at 8 points and then, Quetta will be eliminated.
Pitch Report
Abu Dhabi’s track is ideally a T20 track which provides a good amount of spin and pace. Batting would be easier in the first few overs but later, it gets slow. After back-to-back matches, the surface might trouble batsmen more. Chasing would be a tough call if the score is above 160.
Possible XI
Peshawar
Kamran Akmal (wk), Haider Ali, Shoaib Malik, David Miller, Umaid Asif, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Fabian Allen, Wahab Riaz (c), Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Imran
Quetta
Usman Khan, Faf du Plessis, Saim Ayub, Cameron Delport, Sarfaraz Ahmed (C & WK), Azam Khan, Andre Russell, Jack Wildermuth, Mohammad Nawaz, Zahid Mahmood, Mohammad Hasnain
Key Players
Quetta
Faf du Plessis
Top-scorer for his franchise in Indian T20 League 2021, would be handy at the top order
Jake Weatherald
43 in his first game and would be a vital pick in middle-order
Peshawar
Shoaib Malik
He had a tremendous record in UAE, scored 73 in the last game
David Miller
Looked impressive in the last game but didn’t convert it into big, current form and experience can help Peshawar
