Hyderabad Kingsmen weren’t supposed to be among the top four. They weren’t even supposed to get out of the bottom two. They began the competition with four back-to-back defeats to match their fellow debutants Rawalpindiz’s record.
But they refused to finish the way they started. They won five out of their remaining six games, and the most dominant of those wins came against Rawalpindiz in their final group stage game. They won the match by 108 runs, 22 more than they required to overturn Lahore Qalandars’ Net Run Rate (NRR) and replace them in the fourth spot.
Amid all these unexpected turns, they were also not supposed to play Multan Sultans in the Eliminator. Multan had been in second spot for a long while before Islamabad United defeated them, dropping them to third place in the final group stage game. These eleventh-hour changes have led to this match, which will be the second time the two sides face each other in a week.
Head-to-Head Record:
Hyderabad and Multan have played only two games so far, both this season. The two teams have one win each.
Pitch Report:
Lahore has been the higher-scoring of the two venues this year, with teams scoring at 9.59 runs per over. The last six games here have all seen teams go past 180 in both innings. The initial overs, however, have been slightly tricky for batters. Teams batting first have won only five out of 18 games here. The toss-winning captain should look to field first to ride out the difficult early phase on this pitch.
Where to Watch:
Australia & New Zealand: ESPN
Bangladesh: T Sports, Tapmad (live stream)
Middle East & North Africa (MENA): Cricbuzz (live stream), Switch TV, Cricbuzz TV on ELIFE, STARZPLAY (live stream)
Sri Lanka: Dialog TV, Tapmad (live stream), VIU Hub (live stream)
Nepal: Tapmad (live stream)
United Kingdom: ARY Digital, ARY Plus
United States & Canada: Willow TV, Willow Sports, Willow (by Cricbuzz) (live stream)
Pakistan: PTV, A Sports, Geo Super, Ten Sports, Tapmad (live stream), Tamasha (live stream), Myco (live stream)
Rest of the World: Tapmad (live stream)
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