IU vs LQ 26th Match Prediction

IU vs LQ Team Previews

Islamabad United

If you consider the Islamabad United outfit, you will find that they are the second-best team in the T20 competition. They also have 6 wins and 2 losses in the competition but have a lesser net run rate than Lahore Qalandars in the competition and as result are occupying the second position in the points tally. Unlike the Lahore outfit that ended up on the losing side in their last game Islamabad is going into this match on the back of a 2-game winning streak. This is the second occasion when the two sides will face off against each other in the competition.

In the first clash between these two sides, we saw the Lahore Qalandars team putting up a solid all-around performance to take their team to a win by a huge margin of 110 runs. Islamabad was badly let down by their batters in this game as the entire side was bowled out for a paltry total of 90 runs while chasing an imposing target of 201 runs from their 20 overs. Both these teams have established themselves as the top sides in the competition due to their all-round performance. 

The Islamabad United team is right behind the Lahore Qalandars in the points tally with 6 victories and 2 defeats. The two losses they have suffered in the competition have come against Lahore and Multan by the margins of 110 runs and 52 runs respectively. Islamabad is going into this game with victories in their last couple of games in PSL 2023 against Karachi and Quetta by margins of 6 wickets and 2 wickets respectively. If you look at the head-to-head between the two sides you will find that Islamabad is leading 9-7 in the last 16 matches.

Lahore Qalandars

The Lahore Qalandars team is the table-topper side of the competition. After suffering from an unexpected loss in the last game, the Lahore Qalandars will be hoping to bounce back in this match against Islamabad. This is the 26th game of the competition and it will be played at the Pindi club ground in the city of Rawalpindi. Until their last encounter against the Zalmi side, the Lahore team was enjoying a terrific run in the PSL with 5 wins in a row to their credit. The Peshawar outfit ended this dream run by handing the table toppers their first defeat in 6 matches by a margin of 35 runs.

However, despite this unexpected defeat, the Lahore team is still topping the tables with 12 points from 8 games with 6 victories and 2 losses. The Lahore team is enjoying a purple run in the competition thus far with as many as 6 victories from 8 matches in the league. Lahore beat Multan Sultans by a solitary run in their opening fixture however they could not develop momentum after this and ended up losing to the Karachi Kings outfit by a big margin of 67 runs. But after this, they went on a 5-game winning spree that was brought to a halt in their last match by Peshawar.

In their last match, the defending champions Lahore could not chase down a huge total set by the Peshawar side of 208 runs and fell short by 35 runs. Although the Islamabad outfit is leading the head-to-head between the two sides, Lahore did win their last match pretty convincingly. Lahore has also won 4 out of their last 5 games so has a much better recent record against the same opposition. Even though both these teams have an identical number of points Lahore has a better net run rate of +0.938 while Islamabad has a net run rate of -0.036.