PAKISTAN SUPER LEAGUE PREVIEW – LAHORE QALANDARS: Sohail Akhtar's side has finished bottom of the pile in each PSL table so far, but can fearsome young pacemen help an aging side change that?
Coach: Aqib Javed
Captain: Sohail Akhtar
Last time: Sixth
Previous best: Fifth in 2016 and 2017
Haris Rauf: The 26-year-old quick did not play his first game of organised cricket until 2017, but he enjoyed a fruitful PSL debut in 2019 as he finished level with Sandeep Lamichhane atop the Qalandars' wicket charts with 11 victims.
However, Rauf's exploits this winter more than 10,000 kilometres away have seen him rapidly fly into the limelight, after being plucked from a placement at Tasmanian grade side Glenorchy Magpies to deputise for the injured Dale Steyn at the BBL's Melbourne Stars.
Three brief but devastating stints yielded 20 wickets at a strike rate of 11.3 – each fourth-best for the whole tournament, despite Steyn reclaiming his place for four matches and Rauf making a trip back to Pakistan to make his international debut against Bangladesh last month.
Chris Lynn: The Brisbane Heat batsman finally makes his PSL debut and comes to the Qalandars having recently overtaken Aaron Finch to become the leading run-scorer in BBL history.
Lynn is an elite striker against seam bowling, hitting pace at an astonishing 166.3 since the start of 2013 in the T20 format.
His short-form prowess was demonstrated in November with a blistering run at the top of the order for Maratha Arabians in the Abu Dhabi T10 League, where he struck the two highest scores in the competition's brief history (91 not out from 30 balls, and 89 from 33) and hopes will be high that he can replicate such Lynnsanity in Lahore.
Qalandars prospect Haris Rauf starred in the recent Big Bash League
Dane Vilas: Lancashire's club captain is a late addition to the Qalandars setup, being drafted in only as a replacement player after franchise T20 regular Lendl Simmons pulled out for personal reasons.
However, Vilas could well end up proving a canny signing for the team and playing a significant role in the campaign. He is just the second recognised wicketkeeper in the squad, and fellow overseas signing Ben Dunk comes to the tournament having averaged only 11.87 for the Melbourne Stars in the recent BBL.
The South African, on the other hand, offers invaluable leadership experience behind the sticks – as demonstrated by his first-round draft selection for The Hundred's Manchester Originals, and having led Jozi Stars to the maiden Mzansi Super League title in 2018.
The green team's main weapon will be an outstanding array of local seamers, with youngster Shaheen Afridi tasked with leading the attack alongside Pakistan teammates Haris Rauf and Usman Shinwari. Wily veterans like David Wiese, Samit Patel and Mohammad Hafeez should also complement the pace trio well.
Ben Dunk and Chris Lynn also offer the Qalandars a tremendous amount of all-Australian big-hitting potential at the start of the innings, ranking among the most prolific openers in the history of their domestic competition.
The Qalandars have been perennial wooden spoon holders since the PSL's launch, with their fifth-place finishes bottom of the barrel until the addition of Multan Sultans in 2017 offered the side a new sixth-place opportunity that has swiftly been adopted.
In some respects, surely that means things will struggle to get worse, but a nightmare scenario in Lahore would likely involve one or other of Fakhar Zaman and Chris Lynn struggling for form and the side's batting weaknesses being exposed once again.
Their average innings score with the bat has been the lowest in the PSL for each of the last two seasons – 140 in 2018 and 142 in 2019, compared to a league average first-innings score of 152 in that time – and resources look somewhat unspectacular once through the openers into the likes of Salman Butt and Mohammad Hafeez.
Mohammad Hafeez will be key to both the batting and bowling units
Sohail Akhtar (c), Shaheen Afridi, Jaahid Ali, Salman Butt, Ben Dunk (wk, AUS), Mohammad Faizan, Mohammad Hafeez, Dilbar Hussain, Chris Lynn (AUS), Samit Patel (ENG), Seekkuge Prasanna (SL), Farzan Raja, Haris Rauf, Usman Shinwari, Dane Vilas (wk, SA), David Wiese (SA), Fakhar Zaman
February 21: Lahore Qalandars vs Multan Sultans (Lahore)
February 23: Lahore Qalandars vs Islamabad United (Lahore)
February 28: Peshawar Zalmi vs Lahore Qalandars (Rawalpindi)
March 3: Quetta Gladiators vs Lahore Qalandars (Lahore)
March 4: Islamabad United vs Lahore Qalandars (Lahore)
March 7: Lahore Qalandars vs Quetta Gladiators (Lahore)
March 8: Lahore Qalandars vs Karachi Kings (Lahore)
March 10: Lahore Qalandars vs Peshawar Zalmi (Lahore)
March 12: Karachi Kings vs Lahore Qalandars (Karachi)
March 15: Multan Sultans vs Lahore Qalandars (Lahore)
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