Lahore Qalandars meets Peshawar Zalmi Eliminator 2 of Pakistan Super League or PSL 2023 at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium (March 17). The game starts at 7:00 p.m. local time.

Lahore Qalandars and Peshawar Zalmi have entered the final obstacle to make their final bid for reaching the penultimate game of PSL 2023. While one team appears to be in declining form, the other unit has crossed into the 2nd eliminator. Ahead of this highly anticipated star-studded clash at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium, let's take a detailed look at the likely starting XI, team news, pitch reports and more.

Defending champions Lahore Qalandars viciously lost the qualifier to Multan Sultans after being eliminated by just 76 points. However, they have one last chance to bounce back from their win at the top of the points table in seven of their 10 games this season.

Peshawar Zalmi finished the group stage in fourth place after winning 5 of their 10 games but they beat Islamabad United by 12 runs to secure their place in Eliminator 2. Given that this team has the capacity to create an upset in the knockout stages, Babar Azam-led unit will support themselves to emerge victorious, especially after knowing the fact that they're the same side once in the output hit.

Match Preview

Lahore Qalandars (LAH) will face Peshawar Zalmi (PES) in PSL 2023 second eliminator on Friday (17 March) at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. The Qalandars find themselves in this match after losing the qualifier against Multan Sultans. The Sultans had a great outing with bat and ball in that game. They scored 160 runs for the loss of five wickets in 20 overs with the help of half a century from Kieron Pollard. Their bowlers rolled close lengths, limiting the Qalandars to just 76 runs. The Qalandars met the Zalmi twice this season and both teams won one game each.

The Zalmi defeated Islamabad United by 12 runs in the first eliminator after scoring 183 runs for the loss of eight wickets. Skipper Babar Azam scored 64 runs on 39 deliveries and was the top scorer for the team. Aamer Jamal chose the decisive wickets from Alex Hales and Sohaib Maqsood. He gave away 36 runs in four overs and won the Player of the Match award.

Pitch Report

At Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium, the batting-friendly surface offers minimal support to bowlers; Therefore, the average score for the first innings is 165. Nonetheless, given the recent totals, viewers are expecting a lot of goals on Friday.

Toss Prediction

As the wicket inevitably slows in the second innings, the chase becomes an even tougher challenge for teams. So both captains will try to bat first if they win the toss.

Weather Report

The temperature during the playhouse is expected to be around 21-18 degrees, while the humidity is also expected to be around 62% with no rain affecting play.

Betting Tips

Evaluating the form of both teams over the course of the season, we believe that the Lahore Qalandars have an advantage here. While both teams have strong batting teams, it's the bowling that will be the differentiator here and the Qalandars hold the trumps there.

Bet on the Lahore Qalandars to win.

Head to Head Matches

Both teams shared the loot 1-1 in the group stage, with Peshawar Zalmi winning the latter competition by 35 runs and Lahore Qalandars winning the first game by 40 runs.

PROBABLE PLAYING XI

Lahore Qalandars

FK Zaman, Hussain Talat, Abdullah Shafique, Tahir Baig, D Wiese, Sikandar Raza, Sam Billings, Rashid Khan, S Afridi(C), Haris Rauf, Z Khan.

Peshawar Zalmi

Babar Azam(C), Saim Ayub, James Neesham, Salman Irshad, Aamer Jamal, Azmatullah Omarzai, T Kohler-Cadmore, Mohammad Haris, Haseebullah Khan, W Riaz, Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

Top Fantasy Picks Dream11 Prediction

Lahore Qalandars Key Players

Fakhar Zaman The fact that Zaman failed to give the Qalandars a good start exposed their weaknesses against the Multan Sultans in the first postseason encounter. Given that the left-armed Bastman is expected to lead the batting force, it'll be interesting to see how he builds his innings against the most attacking bowling unit.

Shaheen Afridi With an economy rate under 8.7 in PSL 2023, Afridi has won 14 wickets and caused immense problems with the new ball.

Rashid Khan knows exactly how to bowl in different conditions and has had success all over the world. In 9 games this PSL he has scalped 16 wickets with best numbers of 4 for 21 and added 73 runs.

Haris Rauf is the new leading wicket-taker for Lahore Qalandars in this PSL with 17 scalps. He picked up 3 wickets in the qualifier against Multan Sultans.

Sikandar Raza The 36-year-old all-rounder put in a decent performance for the Qalandars with bat and ball. He has 199 runs in nine innings with a batting average of 184.25 and picked four wickets with a 36.5 average.

Peshawar Zalmi Key Players

Babar Azam The skipper of the Peshawar Zalmi has saved a century and three and a half centuries on his last four trips. He has 480 runs in ten games with an average of 53.33 and a batting average of 148.6.

Saim Ayub The 20-year-old batter has 332 runs in 11 games with an average of 30.18 and a batting average of 165.17. He won the Player of the Match award in his last game against the Qalandars.

Tom Kohler Cadmore smashed the second-highest sixes (21) in PSL 8 and now that he's been given the role of providing a quality ending to Zalmi's batting innings, he needs to up his game.

Salman Irshad After proving why he is the most underrated bowler in PZ's Staring XI, Salman is expected to win against Lahore Qalandar's wickets in the Death Overs in Eliminator 2 as well.

Mohammad Haris The 21-year-old wicketkeeper-batter has hit 265 runs in ten innings with a 26.5 batting average and a 197.76 batting average. He has over 30 points in his last three games.