Toss: Lahore Qalandars chose to bowl v Quetta Gladiators
A much-rejigged Lahore Qalandars, in desperate need of some points to stay afloat, have won the toss, and decided to put Quetta Gladiators in to bat. Lahore must approach each game as a knockout, rooted to the bottom of the table with one win in five, but have been dealt a huge blow with Chris Lynn ruled out with fever.
He has been replaced by Dane Vilas, and David Weise comes in for Sekkugge Prassanna. Lahore have been boosted by the return of Shaheen Afridi, arguably their best player this season, and Usman Shinwari consequently sits out. Salman Butt also drops out to be replaced by Fakhar Zaman.
Quetta Gladiators, in need of some points themselves having lost their previous three matches, have also made a couple of changes. One of them was forced, with Naseem Shah ruled out. Zahid Mehmood, who Quetta called in as a replacement, gets his first game, while Qais Ahmed has been replaced by Fawad Ahmed. Sarfaraz Ahmed admitted he was relieved to lose the toss, revealing he wasn’t quite sure whether batting or bowling first was the best ploy.
Lahore Qalandars: Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Dane Vilas (wk), Ben Dunk, Samit Patel, David Weise, Farzan Raja, Sohail Akhtar (capt), Shaheen Afridi, Dilbar Hussain, Salman Irshad.
Quetta Gladiators: Shane Watson, Jason Roy, Ahmed Shehzad, Sarfaraz Ahmed (capt & wk), Azam Khan, Ben Cutting, Mohammad Nawaz, Zahid Mehmood, Fawad Ahmed, Sohail Khan, Mohammad Hasnain.