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Updated 10 Mar, 2018 11:44am

PSL showdown: Will the shining Sultans conquer the clueless Qalandars again?

The Multan Sultans will once again take on the luckless Lahore Qalandars in the 20th fixture of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) to be played in Dubai on Friday.

Although the Sultans were mercilessly taken down in a strong show by the Quetta Gladiators on March 7, one assumes a match against the Qalandars will be a piece of cake for the table-toppers who have four wins under their belt.

Nothing has gone right for the Qalandars this season. The franchise has, embarrassingly, lost each of their six matches despite a smattering of fine cricketers in their top five picks, including Brendon McCullum, Sunil Narine, Umar Akmal, Fakhar Zaman and Sohail Akhtar.

The team also has one of the worst win percentages of all T20 franchises in the world, occupying the second spot on the list.

The Qalandars, who have nothing left to lose, could push themselves to give today's match their all and end up winning it. But a bit of a shuffle in their batting lineup may be in order before they take on the Sultans, who have the likes of Sohail Tanveer, Umar Gul and Mohammad Irfan staging comebacks this season.

Multan Sultans

Shoaib Malik (captain), Ahmed Shehzad, Sohaib Maqsood, Abdullah Shafiq, Darren Bravo, Saif Badar, Umar Siddiq, Shan Masood, Sohail Tanvir, Kieron Pollard, Kashif Bhatti, Ross Whiteley, Kumar Sangakkara, Nicholas Pooran, Umar Gul, Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Imran Tahir (cover: Thisara Perera), Irfan Khan, Mohammad Abbas, and Hardus Viljoen.

Lahore Qalandars

Brendon McCullum (captain), Cameron Delport, Fakhar Zaman, Sohail Akhtar, Chris Lynn, Aamer Yamin, Bilawal Bhatti, Bilal Asif, Anton Devcich (replaced Angelo Mathews), Umar Akmal, Gulraiz Sadaf, Sohail Khan, Sunil Narine, Yasir Shah, Ghulam Mudassar, Mitchell McClenaghan, Raza Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman (cover: Dinesh Ramdin), Shaheen Afridi and Imran Khan.

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