LQ vs PZ 15th Match Prediction

LQ vs PZ Team Previews

Lahore Qalandars

The Lahore Qalandars lifted the PSL title for the first time at the end of the previous season, and the fans expected them to make a perfect start to this season. But the team has been a bit inconsistent in its performances so far. 

The team faced a heavy defeat against the Karachi Kings last Sunday but did manage to bounce back a couple of days later during the match against the Gladiators. Invited to bat first, the Qalandars posted a mammoth total of 198-6 in their 20 overs thanks to a great batting effort by the top and middle-order batsmen.

Shai Hope played a gritty knock of 47 runs in 32 deliveries, while Hussain Talat and Sikandar Raza played superb cameos to help their team accelerate in the final overs of the first innings. In the second innings, captain Shaheen Afridi was excellent with the new ball, picking up 3 wickets for 22 runs, and was well supported by David Weise who too scalped 3.

The disciplined bowling effort made the Gladiators struggle to score runs and they ultimately fell short by 63 runs. The team will be banking on Fakhar Zaman and Mirza Baig to give them a brisk start, while the likes of Kamran Ghulam and Shai Hope will lend stability to the middle order.

The team has plenty of options for seam bowling, as they have Shaheen Afridi, David Weise, Haris Rauf, and Zaman Khan in their arsenal. With Rashid Khan finally joining the squad, the team now has a quality spinner who will trouble the opposition batsmen in middle and death overs. 

Peshawar Zalmi

Just like their opponents, the Peshawar Zalmi have been rather inconsistent in their performance and have alternated between victories and losses during their 4 matches. The team comes into this game on the back of a 6-wicket defeat at the hands of Islamabad United last Thursday.

Babar Azam has been pretty consistent for the team at the top of the order and has given the team a couple of good starts in this tournament. The middle-order however has struggled to score runs. Tom Kohler-Cadmore played a brilliant knock of 92 runs in the opening game but hasn’t been able to get going since then.

The team will be hoping that Saim Ayub and Rovman Powell find some good form soon to lead their team to some big totals. Peshawar Zalmi has two quality all-rounders in the form of Dasun Shanaka and James Neesham who can score some quick runs toward the end of an inning.

Neesham is the leading wicket-taker for the team with 4 wickets but has been rather expensive. Wahab Riaz, who is the team’s most experienced seamer, has struggled to pick wickets, while the young Arshad Iqbal has been battered around the ground by the opposition batsmen.

It is a similar story with the spinners too, as Sufiyan Muqeem and Usman Qadir have managed to pick up just 4 wickets among them.