Image credit | PCB Twitter
Southern Punjab, who won their first game after six straight losses in the tournament, will take on table-toppers Central Punjab in the 21st game of the National T2 Cup. The match will be played at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.
Southern Punjab have nothing to lose in this tournament. If they want to keep their qualification chances into the final four alive, they will have to win all remaining games of the tournament.
Although their remarkable win against Northern the other night has set the tone for the tournament, it remains to be seen whether the team could continue their dominance in the tournament.
TOday’s game against Central Punjab and every match after that will be a do or die for Southern Punjab. As for Central, they will be relaxed as they have already booked their spot in the semi-finals after beating Sindh on Wednesday.
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Toss Update
Toss has not been called yet.
Head to Head
Central Punjab enjoy an upper hand over Southern when it comes to head-to-head contests. Out of four matches played between them, Central have won two while Southern Punjab won only one. The other match was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
Players to Watch Out For
Talking about Central Punjab, their batting lineup has been in form. Babar Azam has been scoring runs, Ahmed Shehzad has been chipping in with important contributions up the order, and so are Muhammad Akhlaq, and Shoaib Malik.
As far as their bowling department is concerned, Hassan Ali, Wahab Riaz, and Usman Qadir all have been performing well.
As for Southern Punjab, batting hasn’t been their concern as they have scored over 170 runs in the tournament multiple times, thanks to Sohaib Maqsood, Khushdil Shah and Azam Khan’s small contributions. Not to forget Amer Yameen, who has been performing both with the bowl, as well as with the bat. And then Salman Ali Agha regaining his form makes their batting a formidable unit.
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The cause of worry is their bowling unit that has not defended even a gigantic total of 180 and above. If Southern plan on playing the semis, they really need to improve bowling as a unit.
Squads
Expect changes from Central Punjab. They are already in semis and have at least three games to test their bench strength and rest their key players, some of whom have been named in the T20 World Cup squad.
Central Punjab – Babar Azam (captain), Hasan Ali (vice-captain), Ahmed Safi Abdullah, Ahmed Shehzad, Ehsan Adil, Faheem Ashraf, Hussain Talat, Kamran Akmal (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Akhlaq (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Hafeez, Qasim Akram, Saif Badar, Shoaib Malik, Usman Qadir, Wahab Riaz, Sameen Gul, and Waqas Maqsood
As for Southern Punjab, they would want to go with a strong squad to tackle mighty Central Punjab. Expect Salman Ali Agha to come up with the order and play an anchoring role. Sohaib might go down the order if he does not finds his rhythm while opening with Zeeshan Ashraf.
Southern Punjab – Sohaib Maqsood (captain), Zeeshan Ashraf (vice-captain), Amir Yamin, Azam Khan (wicketkeeper), Dilbar Hussain, Faisal Akram, Hassan Khan, Imran Randhawa, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Ilyas, Naseem Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Umer Khan, Zain Abbas and Zia-ul-Haq, Usama Mir
Broadcast and Live Streaming Details
The match starts at 3 pm local time and will be produced by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and broadcasted by PTV Sports – Pakistan’s only state sports channel. The match could be seen live on Tapmad, Easypaisa apps, as well as on Cricwick.
Watch Southern Punjab vs Central Punjab Live Streaming here:
