Bureau Report
Karachi: The Pakistan Super League (PSL) season five has entered into an exciting phase where all the teams have equal chances of qualifying in the playoffs.
Here’s how things look alike on stats chart after the league has completed 23 matches so far out of 34 across all four venues.
Points table
Multan Sultans have already qualified for playoffs with 11 points in their account. The table-toppers have won five out of seven matches they played so far in the tournament. They will play three more round matches against Quetta Gladiators, Peshawar Zalmi and Lahore Qalandars.
Second-ranked Peshawar Zalmi needs just a win to qualify for the knock-out stage. They currently have nine points in eight matches with four wins, three losses and a contest went resultless.
The Men in Yellow will now take Lahore Qalandars and Multan Sultans in the remaining two round matches of this edition.
The last four-ranked franchises including Islamabad United (3rd), Karachi Kings (4rth), Lahore Qalandars (5th) and Quetta Gladiators (6th) are now in a must-win situation. Two-time PSL champion United has to win their last match as they have seven points in nine matches they have played so far.
Karachi Kings have three matches left and they have to win two out of it to make their position strong for playoffs qualification. Three wins will make them more strong to settle down on top of the table.
Lahore Qalandars, who have won two back-to-back matches to make a strong comeback, now have six points in seven matches. They also need to win all of their remaining three matches to make a strong impact on the points table.
Defending champions Quetta Gladiators are ranked last with six points in eight matches but they also have a chance to qualify for the knockout stage by winning the remaining two matches.
Highest run-scorers
Islamabad United’s Luke Ronchi has once again gained dominance on the Highest run-scorers chart. The right-handed batsman has 266 runs in eight matches at an average of 38 with two half-centuries.
Shadab Khan, who is the only Pakistani in this list, is the second-highest run-scorer in this edition so far with 251 runs in eight matches. The skipper of United has three fifties under his belt and a handsome strike rate of 166.22.
The most sixes hitter in PSL’s history, Ben Dunk has scored 250 runs in five matches and is the third-highest run-scorer in this year’s league. Colin Munro (248*) and Alex Hales (239*) are the fourth and fifth-highest run-scorers so far.
Highest wicket-takers
Young Mohammad Husnain of Quetta Gladiators is currently ruling the PSL 5 Highest wicket-takers’ chart with 14 wickets in eight matches. Imran Tahir of Multan Sultans and Mohammad Amir of Karachi Kings are placed second and third with 10 wickets each. Wahab Riaz (9) and Shaheen Shah Afridi (8) are fourth and fifth-highest wicket-taker.
