Karachi se Lahore

At the time of writing, the third edition of the Pakistan Super League has moved from Dubai to Sharjah. As things stand, before the fixtures on Wednesday and Thursday, the table looks pretty for the Karachi Kings who have won all three of the matches, and sit atop the standings.

Barring two convincing wins for Quetta Gladiators, who would have played Islamabad United on Wednesday and Peshawar Zalmi on Thursday, Karachi Kings would still be on top of the table when they take on the Multan Sultans in today’s (Friday) first contest.

Sultans sit second at the time of writing, having been the early leaders winning both of their initial matches. Multan, of course, are the new entrants who started with a thumping win over the defending champions Peshawar Zalmi in the league opener.

Zalmi, Gladiators and United have underwhelmed before midweek fixtures, while the Kings and Sultans are the deserving leaders

It might be too soon to comment on Zalmi, Gladiators and Islamabad United, especially since all three of them play midweek, but each of them looks a more underwhelming version from the previous editions.

United have been without Misbah, and considering the players that they’ve lost through spot-fixing – Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif – they do look short on the batting department. Their win against Sultans was based on a combination of their impressive bowling lineup – led by RummanRaees – and the conditions.

Even though United won the inaugural PSL, Zalmi and Gladiators have been the two best teams of the previous two seasons combined. Right now they look like being the chasing pack looking up to the early leaders.

For Zalmi, losing ShahidAfridi has been a blow, and his trade to Karachi Kings seems to have turned the latter’s fortunes around as well.

Before the midweek clashes, the Gladiators have only lost the one match – against Kings – and hence by Friday, they might be right in the mix exhibiting the form that has resulted in back to back runners-up finishes for them. But they could miss the runs of Ahmed Shehzad, who has now formed a formidable opening partnership with Kumara Sangakkara, who along with Shoaib Malik has been the batting spearhead for the Sultans.

Multan too don’t play in the midweek clashes and would hence look to cement their billing by ending the Kings’ unbeaten today (Friday).

Another team that won’t play in midweek, which perhaps could come as a relief for them, are the Lahore Qalandars – the only team that is yet to win a match so far. And considering that they already have the distinction of finishing bottom in both of the first two editions, this is déjà vu of horrific proportions.

Considering that Lahore have been following a similar pattern of struggle, it is not too difficult to discern where they’re going wrong. The Brendon McCullum led gung-ho approach, especially from the Qalandars’ top order, isn’t coupled with a reliable middle and lower middle order – and hence, all the quick fire starts seem to be going down the drain.

Qalandars were founded upon a philosophy to out-bat opponents, which was further shaped up in the same mould by McCullum’s arrival in PSL 2. Considering that the New Zealand legend won’t be changing his own approach towards any form of cricket, either it starts pulling off soon, or Lahore would have to completely revamp everything they currently stand for.

With Qalandars at the bottom and Kings top, the league table currently goes from Karachi to Lahore. However, the addition of Sultans means that every team will be playing 10 league games before the standings are finalised for the playoffs.

So it’s still, well and truly, all to play for.