Both Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmi will lock horns in the first qualifying final of the inaugural Pakistan Super League (PSL) at Dubai Cricket Stadium in UAE on Friday.
The victorious side will book a place in the final of the event while the losing team will get a second chance to make it into the summit clash.
Peshawar topped the points table in the round robin stage with 12 points after winning six of their eight games while Quetta finished at the second position, also with 12 points but a slight lower run-rate.
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Quetta will be without all-rounder Mohammad Nabi and batsman Luke Wright in this crucial encounter.
Nabi, who struck 30 off 12 balls to help Quetta chase down 203 against Lahore Qalandars in their last league game, has flown to Bangladesh to join Afghanistan squad for the Asia Cup qualifier.
Wright, meanwhile, is unavailable due to injury. He was replaced by Bismillah Khan in the last game who made his mark with a brisk 55 off 30 balls.
Peshawar, meanwhile, have lost the services of in-form Bangladesh batsman Tamim Iqbal, who has returned home to be with his wife as the couple is expecting their first baby this week.
His place in team’s last game against Karachi Kings was taken by Brad Hodge, who hit a match-winning 85 off 45 balls.
This will be the third time that Quetta and Peshawar will go head to head in this competition.
Quetta won the first game in Dubai by eight wickets while Peshawar registered an eight-wicket win in the second game in Sharjah.
Probable XIs:
Peshawar Zalmi:
Shahid Afridi (Captain), Mohamamd Hafeez, Kamran Akmal, Shaun Tait, Mohamamd Asghar, Dawid Malan, Darren Sammy, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Brad Hodge, Shahid Yousaf
Quetta Gladiators:
Ahmed Shehzad, Nathan McCullum, Bismillah Khan, Kumar Sangakkara, Zulfiqar Babar, Umar Gul, Sarfraz Ahmed (Captain), Grant Elliott, Mohammad Nawaz, Kevin Pietersen,
