0
LAHORE: Debutants Hyderabad Kingsmen seek to produce their best when they clash with experienced Multan Sultans in the first Eliminator of the HBL Pakistan Super League 11 here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Wednesday.
While Kingsmen just made it to the playoffs stage on better net run-rate than earned by Lahore Qalandars, the journey of Sultans, placed third in the initial league stage, has been relatively smoother.
The winners of today’s match will meet Islamabad United who suffered a 70-run loss at the hands of Peshawar Zalmi in the Qualifier between the top two teams of the table on Tuesday at the National Bank Stadium in Karachi.
Interestingly, both Sultans and Kingsmen preferred to rest on Tuesday ahead of the crucial match.
Sultans hold an edge on the basis of their experience, and know what it takes to win the league, having clinched it once — in 2021 — besides ending as runners-up thrice in 2022, 2023 and 2024. On the other hand, Hyderabad are competing in the league for the first time.
Glancing at the show produced by both the teams in the ongoing edition, it becomes obvious that while Kingsmen’s performance graph improved significantly in the second half of the 10-match initial-stage stretch during which the Marnus Labuschagne-led side won four games while losing only one, Sultans declined in their last five league-stage matches.
The Ashton Turner-captained Sultans played top-class brand of cricket in the earlier stage of the league phase and even topped the eight-team points table at one stage. However, four losses in the last five matches checked their progress.
Sultans’ batting line-up comprising Steven Smith (10 matches, 367 runs), Sahibzada Farhan (nine matches, 365), Shan Masood (10 matches, 298) and Turner (10 matches, 211) look strong.
In bowling, they have veteran pacer Peter Siddle who has claimed 13 wickets in 10 matches, while left-arm orthodox spinner Arafat Minhas has taken nine for 204 runs in 10 outings. Pacer Mohammad Ismail has bagged nine wickets in six matches while wrist spinner Faisal Akram has seven wickets in five fixtures.
For Kingsmen, their main batter is Labuschagne, having amassed 274 runs while Usman Khan (256) is their second best. While Saim Ayub has struggled with the bat so far, belligerent Australian batter Glenn Maxwell who joined the team after four PSL matches may prove a trump card.
In bowling, Kingsmen look better having pacers Mohammad Ali (13 wickets,), Hunain Shah (12 wickets), Akif Javed (eight wickets) in the ranks along with Hassan Khan and Asif Mahmood.
Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2026
