arfraz Ahmed’s Quetta Gladiators take on Misbah-ul-Haq’s Islamabad United in what promises to be a cracking Pakistan Super League (PSL) finale at the Dubai cricket stadium on Tuesday.
According to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), since the PSL began on February 4, national television viewing figures have been higher than for the 2015 World Cup, with 55 per cent of the country’s TV-watching public tuning into the tournament at peak times.
And tickets for the final have reportedly been sold out with some fans on Twitter claiming the ‘black market was serving tickets for as high as Rs 700,000’ each. The mad dash for tickets for the season-ending may come as surprise to many who witnessed empty stands at the beginning of the tournament but former cricketers have credited the exciting finishes in some of the matches as the major factor in pulling crowds.
And the final could follow the same script as well with the Gladiators and United going from strength to strength during the course of the tournament.
For the Gladiators, Ahmed Shehzad, Kevin Pietersen, Kumar Sangakkara and Mohammad Nawaz are once against expected to carry the team while United will be counting on the in-form Sharjeel Khan, Andre Russell and Mohammad Sami to provide the team with some magic.
Teams:
Islamabad United Team (From)
Ashar Zaidi, Asif Ali, Babar Azam, S Badree, SW Billings, BJ Haddin†, Imran Khalid, Kamran Ghulam, Khalid Latif, Misbah-ul-Haq*, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Sami, Rumman Raees, AD Russell, Saeed Ajmal, Sharjeel Khan, DR Smith, SR Watson
Quetta Gladiators Team (From)
Ahmed Shehzad, Aizaz Cheema, Akbar-ur-Rehman, Anwar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Bismillah Khan, E Chigumbura, GD Elliott, NL McCullum, Mohammad Nabi, Mohammad Nawaz (3), KP Pietersen, KC Sangakkara, Sarfraz Ahmed*†, Umar Gul, LJ Wright, Zulfiqar Babar
