Karachi Kings take on Peshawar Zalmi in the third and final qualifying final of the ongoing second season of Pakistan Super League 2017 in Dubai on Friday.
While Kumar Sangakkara's men defeated defending champions Islamabad United to give themselves another chance at qualifying for the final, scheduled for 5 March, Peshawar lost the first qualifying final on Tuesday.
With doubts over the participation of foreign stars in the final, which is scheduled to be held in Lahore, due to security reasons still looming large, Friday's encounter between Karachi and Peshawar is likely to be the last match of the ongoing season to be featuring them.
For Karachi, it will be important for their top-order stars, Chris Gayle and Kumar Sangakkara, both of whom have found form recently, to fire and get them off to a good total. Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik has been consistent while last season's top-scorer Ravi Bopara has been a big letdown with the bat.
Sangakkara will be happy that his bowling unit is performing collectively well as a unit. With the likes of Usama Mir and Imad Wasim along with Mohammad Amir being among the wickets, the momentum has been with Karachi as they have won the last four of their five matches.
On the other hand, Peshawar succumbed to an agonising defeat in a high-scoring thriller against Quetta. Chasing 201, Sammy's men needed only one run from their last three balls but a tight over from Mohammad Nawaz saw them lose the game without being able to get the run.
With veteran Mohammad Hafeez finding form, Peshawar have the firepower in the likes of Sammy, Shahid Afridi to deliver on the big night but it will be important for them to bury the disappointment of their one-run loss and start afresh against the in-form Karachi unit.
TV Schedule
Pakistan: Ten Sports, PTV, Geo Super
Sri Lanka: Ten Sports, CSN
UK: Prime TV
West Indies: Flow TV
Bangladesh: Gazi TV
UAE: OSN Sports
Team News
Peshawar
Possible XI: Iqbal, K Akmal (wk), Hafeez, Samuels, Maqsood, Shakib, Sammy (c), Afridi, Riaz, Ali, Junaid
Karachi
Possible XI: Sangakkara (c & wk), Hasan, Gayle, Babar, Malik, Bopara, Pollard, Wasim, Amir, Sohail, Abrar
