PSL Final Preview

The day which everyone was waiting so eagerly for is finally here in the Pakistan Super League. It’s the PSL 2022 final. Multan Sultan and Lahore Qalandars will be face to face in this match. 

Multan Sultans are the defending champions and they have played like a champion side till now. Multan have lost only one match in the tournament till now and that coincidentally was against the Lahore Qalandars in the league stage. Multan has defeated Lahore twice in three meetings this season and will look to win this match as well and win their second title in a row. Their batters and bowlers have been phenomenal. Mohammad Rizwan, Rilee Rossouw, Tim David Khushdil Shah, Shan Masood, etc have done really well while the likes of Shahnawaz Dahani, Imran Tahir, David Willey, etc are in outstanding form as well. Multan have played a team and will be high on confidence coming into this game. 

Lahore Qalandars reached the finals in a thriller of an Eliminator match against Islamabad United. Lahore finished at the second spot and lost the qualifier against Multan. As mentioned, they are the only team to have gotten the better of the Sultans in PSL 2022 and will look to repeat the same in this match too. Batting has been a concern for them as no one except Fakhar Zaman seems to be scoring consistently for them. Abdullah Shafique and Kamran Ghulam showed some promising signs in the last match while David Wiese too showed what he is capable of with the bat. Their bowling unit is an excellent one with Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Zamaan Khan, Samit Patel, Fawad Ahmed, and David Wiese etc. Lahore too is a very strong side and will give their all for their first PSL title. 

Probable XI

Multan Sultans: Shan Masood, Mohammad Rizwan (c & wk), Aamer Azmat, Rilee Rossouw, Johnson Charles, Khushdil Shah, David Willey, Rumman Raees, Asif Afridi, Imran Tahir, Shahnawaz Dahani

Lahore Qalandars: Fakhar Zaman, Philip Salt (wk), Abdullah Shafique, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hafeez, Harry Brook, Samit Patel, David Wiese, Shaheen Afridi (c), Haris Rauf, Zaman Khan

Pitch Report

The pitch has been good for batting but it isn’t like it used to be during the league stages. Anything around 170-180 is a match winning total on this wicket. The ball has gripped a little but it’s not a slow wicket. Batters will dominate, Teams will look to bat first and put the opposition under pressure by setting up a good total.

Head to Head

Overall: Multan leads 7-5
Last 5 matches: Multan leads 4-1
This season: Multan leads 2-1

Match Ups

Multan Sultans
Rizwan vs Shaheen: 54 runs off 48 balls with 2 dismissals
Masood vs Shaheen: 22 runs off 27 balls with 2 dismissals
Rizwan vs Rauf: 62 runs off 45 balls with 2 dismissals
Rossouw vs Rauf: 42 runs off 27 balls with 3 dismissals
Masood vs Wiese: 42 runs off 26 balls with 3 dismissals
Charles vs Wiese: 18 runs off 26 balls with 3 dismissals
Charles vs Hafeez: 24 runs off 25 balls with 3 dismissals

Lahore Qalandars
Fakhar vs Tahir: 93 runs off 56 balls with 2 dismissals
Fakhar vs Dahani: 12 runs off 12 balls with 1 dismissal
Hafeez vs Dahani: 20 runs off 10 balls with 1 dismissal
Wiese vs Raees: 3 runs off 4 balls with 2 dismissals
Hafeez vs Khushdil: 9 runs off 9 balls with 2 dismissals

Key Players

Multan Sultans

● Mohammad Rizwan: Rizwan has been super consistent in the tournament so far. He is the second highest run-scorer with 532 runs at an average of 76, striking at 126.96. RIzwan has held one end and others have played around him. He will look to lead from the front. Rizwan has 7 fifties in 11 matches.

● Rilee Rossouw: Rossouw has been an under-appreciated star for Multan this season. He has scored in almost every game he has got the chance to bat. Rossouw has 260 runs in 9 innings. He is averaging 43.33 and has struck at a rate of 183.09. He scored 65 in the qualifier against Lahore. 

● Shahnawaz Dahani: Dahani has been the strike bowler for the Sultans. He has bowled his 4 overs mainly in the last 6-7 overs of the game. He has picked 16 wickets till now in PSL 2022. Dahani turned the qualifier game by picking up 3 wickets and will look to do the same in this one as well. 

Lahore Qalandars

● Fakhar Zaman: Fakhar has been the best batter for the Qalandars in the tournament till now. He is the highest run-scorer of the tournament and has been very consistent as well. Zaman has 585 runs to his name. His batting average is 48.75 and his strike-rate has been 154.25. Fakhar has 7 half-centuries and a century to his name as well. 

● Shaheen Afridi: Skipper Shaheen Afridi is the best bowler for Lahore. The left-arm pacer has 17 wickets in PSL 2022 and is the second highest wicket-taker after Shadab Khan. Shaheen will look to do well and lead from the front with an example. 

● David Wiese:  Wiese single handedly took Lahore over the line in the second Eliminator match. He scored 28 runs off just 8 deliveries and then saved 8 runs in the last over in a pressure situation. Wiese will again be very crucial for the Qalandars with both bat and ball.

Fantasy Tips 

Top captain and vice-captain options: 

● Mohammad Rizwan
● Fakhar Zaman
● Shahnawaz Dahani
● Shaheen Afridi
● Rilee Rossouw (Batting First)

Dream11 Team