The 26th match of Pakistan Super League 2023 is scheduled to play between Islamabad United and Lahore Qalandars on Thursday 9th March 2023 at Pindi Club Ground, Rawalpindi.

The top-performing teams of this edition of the Pakistan Super League, Islamabad United, and Lahore Qalandars are going to face each other in this match. These both teams had qualified for the playoff and will try their best to win this match to collect some points to secure the top two positions. Both teams have equal points but Lahore Qalandars have better net run rates. Lahore Qalandars had played a total of eight matches with six wins to their name. They had lost two matches and are leading the points table.

Islamabad United also performed well in this tournament. They had also played eight matches with six wins to their name. They had lost two matches and are holding the second position on the points table. Remember that Lahore Qalandars had already beaten Islamabad United in this tournament. Both teams will play this match with full force as we are sure that this match is going to be very interesting.

Islamabad United had now won three back-to-back matches and their most recent win came against Multan Sultans with a margin of two wickets. This was a high-scoring match where more than 400 runs were scored in less than 20 overs. They won the toss and decided to field first but their bowling unit totally failed to give the best performance and leaked 205 runs in 20 overs. The skipper, Shadab Khan was the only successful bowler from their side with two wickets to his name in four overs against just 26 runs. Mohammad Wasim Jr was the other bowler with two wickets to his name but he also leaked a lot of runs. He was charged with 48 runs in four overs. Faheem Ashraf was the other bowler who performed well and picked one wicket in four overs while he was charged with 38 runs.

Fazalhaq Farooqi, Mubasir Khan, and Rumman Raees were the bowlers who failed to pick any wicket. The bowling unit of Islamabad United is very strong but they did not get any help from the conditions. The pitch will remain the same in this match and we are sure that this match will also have high scoring as both teams have strong batting orders. The way how the batting order of Islamabad United performed in the previous match was just outstanding. They chased the target of 206 runs in 19.5 overs. We saw some good batting performances from their key players like Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Colin Munro, Shadab Khan, and Faheem Ashraf. Faheem Ashraf was the most successful and highest run-scorer from their side with 51 runs to his name on 26 balls with the help of five boundaries and two huge sixes. He remained not out till the chase of the target. The skipper, Shadab Khan also had an outstanding performance with the bat and scored 44 runs. He faced 25 balls and smashed three boundaries and the same huge sixes. Colin Munro was the other batsman who put some runs on the board. He scored 40 runs while Rahmanullah Gurbaz could manage to score 25 runs.

Lahore Qalandars performed well and won five matches in a row but lost their most recent match against Peshawar Zalmi by a handsome margin of 35 runs. The bowling unit of Lahore Qalandars is very strong but the pitch at Pindi Club Ground is not good for the bowlers and we had already seen that teams are scoring more than 200 runs on this pitch in almost each and every match. We saw the same in the previous match where Lahore Qalandars leaked 207 runs and send the full team of Peshawar Zalmi back to the pavilion in 19.3 overs. The skipper, Shaheen Afridi was the most successful and highest wicket-taker from their side with four wickets to his name in four overs against 31 runs. Haris Rauf was the other bowler who performed well with the ball and picked two wickets in four overs while he was charged with 35 runs.

Zaman Khan also performed well and picked two wickets but he leaked a lot of runs. He was charged for 30 runs in 2.3 overs. Rashid Khan was the other bowler from their side with two wickets to his name in four overs while he was charged with 41 runs. David Wiese and Sikandar Raza were the bowlers who failed to pick any wicket. The batting order of Lahore Qalandars performed well but failed to chase the target of 208 runs and their full team came back to the pavilion in 19.4 overs with a total of 172 runs. The top batting order of Lahore Qalandars totally failed to give the best performance and their key batsmen like Shawaiz Irfan, Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, and Sam Billings totally failed to give the best performance. Hussain Talat was the most successful and highest run-scorer from their side. He scored 63 runs on 37 balls with the help of four boundaries and five huge sixes. The skipper, Shaheen Afridi also had an outstanding performance with the bat and scored his first fifty of this edition of the Pakistan Super League. He scored a total of 52 runs on 36 balls and smashed three boundaries and five huge sixes. Sikandar Raza is in good form but he could manage to score just 20 runs.

Islamabad United had faced Lahore Qalandars in 16 matches where they won 7 matches while Lahore Qalandars won 9 matches.

According to today’s prediction, Islamabad United is the favorite team to win this match. There are many factors that make Islamabad United a favorite team to win this match.

• The batting order of Islamabad United is strong and in superb form
• Islamabad United also has a strong bowling unit
• The key players of Islamabad United are in good form
• Lahore Qalandars had won four matches in a row against Islamabad United
• Lahore Qalandars also has a strong bowling unit which is in superb form

Islamabad United is overall a strong team as compared to the Lahore Qalandars especially when it comes to batting. The batting and bowling squad of Islamabad United is strong at least on paper, so the winning chances of today’s match for Islamabad United have been increased. The equation of winning the chances of both teams for today’s match is mentioned as under.

Islamabad United has a 52% chance to win this match
Lahore Qalandars has a 48% chance to win this match

The toss is going to play an important role in almost all matches of Pakistan Super League season 8. We had seen in the previous editions of this tournament that chase is the best option for both teams at the venue of Rawalpindi. Almost 80% of matches had been won by bowling first. According to the toss prediction, the team who will win the toss may choose to field first.

The 26th match of the Pakistan Super League season 2023 is scheduled to be held at Pindi Club Ground, Rawalpindi. The pitch at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore is known for providing producing high-scoring matches. The pitch generally favors the batter and the ball comes onto the bat quite nicely. The pitch also offers some assistance to spinners as the match progresses. Fast bowlers may get some early swing and bounce especially in the first six overs but as the match progresses, the pitch tends to flatten out. The outfield is usually very fast which makes things easier for the batters to score runs quickly. Overall, the pitch at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore is considered to be a good batting surface with some help for the bowlers.

The weather in Rawalpindi is excellent for this match. Lahore is typically known for pleasant weather and good temperatures ranging from 12°C to 26°C in February. The sky is mostly clear during this month and there is almost no chance of rain. However. The humidity levels can be relatively high, making it feel slightly warmer.

Islamabad United: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Alex Hales, Colin Munro, Shadab Khan (c), Mubasir Khan, Azam Khan (wk), Asif Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Rumman Raees, Fazalhaq Farooqi.

Lahore Qalandars: Fakhar Zaman, Shawaiz Irfan, Sam Billings (wk), Abdullah Shafique, Hussain Talat, Sikandar Raza, Rashid Khan, David Wiese, Shaheen Afridi (c), Haris Rauf, Zaman Khan.

We will update you shortly.

• Date: Thursday, 9th March 2023
• Time: 02:00 PM GMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL / 07:30 PM IST

• Stadium: Pindi Club Ground
• Location: Rawalpindi, Pakistan
• Capacity: 15000
• Known as: Army Sports Ground
• Time Zone: UTC +05:00
• Home to: Rawalpindi

• Total matches: 2
• Matches won batting first: 1
• Matches won bowling first: 1
• Average 1st Inns scores: 219
• Average 2nd Inns scores: 212
• Highest total recorded: 239/7 (50 Ov) by PAK vs ENG
• Lowest total recorded: 221/10 (48.4 Ov) by ENG vs PAK
• The highest score chased: 203/5 (39.1 Ov) by PAK vs WI
• The lowest score defended: 239/7 (50 Ov) by PAK vs ENG

Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Alex Hales, Colin Munro, Shadab Khan(c), Azam Khan(w), Asif Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Mubasir Khan, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Rumman Raees, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Hasan Ali, Sohaib Maqsood, Zeeshan Zameer, Hassan Nawaz, Abrar Ahmed, Tom Curran.