The 1st match of Pakistan Super League 2023 is scheduled to play between Multan Sultans and Lahore Qalandars on Monday 13th February 2023 at Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan.

The 8th edition of the Pakistan Super League is going to start on the 13th of February and will continue till the 19th of March. A total of 34 T20 matches will be played in this tournament. League matches of this season of PSL will be played at four different venues like Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan, National Stadium, Karachi, Pindi Club Ground, Rawalpindi, and Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore while playoffs will be held at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.

The finalist teams of the previous edition of the Pakistan Super League, Multan Sultans, and Lahore Qalandars are going to face each other in the first match of PSL 8. Lahore Qalandars won the title of Pakistan Super League 7 and they will be defending their title. Remember that Lahore Qalandars was the second-best performing team of the previous season after the completion of league matches.

Multan Sultans won the title of PSL 6 and were the runner-up team in the 7th edition. The Sultans performed well in the previous season and were the best-performing team when the league matches were completed. They won nine out of ten league matches and were leading the points table. They beat the same team, Lahore Qalandars in the qualifier 1 match and made their way to the final where they lost against Lahore Qalandars.

Almost all teams in Pakistan Super League had reshuffled their squad for this season. Multan Sultans also had made some key changes in their squad. Mohammad Rizwan had been in superb form in the recent matches he had played and will be leading the batting order of Multan Sultans. He was not good in the recent season of BPL where he get just four matches to play but he had been in superb form for Pakistan. He is the backbone of the batting order of Multan Sultans and we are sure that he will play a main role. He will open the batting inning for Multan Sultans with Shan Masood or Khushdil Shah. The top and middle batting order of Multan Sultans is very strong. Rilee Rossouw and Tim David are part of the batting squad of Multan Sultans. Tim David is Australia cricket but you should know that he was recognized by Pakistan Super League.

David Miller is the other best batsman of T20 cricket who is part of the batting squad of Multan Sultans. He will not available for a full tournament but will play the match of Multan Sultans partially. Kieron Pollard is another dangerous player of T20 cricket who is part of the squad of Multan Sultans. He can destroy any strong bowling unit of any team in PSL. Usman Khan is the other best batter of the Sultans. He had recently played in BPL where his performance was just outstanding. He also scored a century and will be confident for this tournament. The bowling unit of Multan Sultans is also strong and experienced. Shahnawaz Dahani will be leading the bowling unit of Multan Sultans. Remember that Multan Sultan had given a chance to Shahnawaz Dahani where he performed well and now had represented Pakistan in T20 and ODI matches. Adil Rashid, Wayne Parnell, Sameen Gul, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Sarwar, Josh Little, and Akeal Hosein are also available for playing eleven of this match.

Lahore Qalandars won its only title in Pakistan Super League and that was the seventh edition. They started well and continue their good form till the final match. They become the champions of the previous edition of PSL and now will be defending their title. They also made some changes in their squad for this 8th season of PSL. Shaheen Shah Afridi was the leading Lahore Qalandar and under his captaincy, they become the champion. He will also be leading Lahore Qalandars in this edition of the Pakistan Super League. The batting order of Lahore Qalandars and strong as compared to the previous season. Fakhar Zaman had been the leading batsman of this team for the previous seven seasons and he will open the batting inning for Lahore Qalandars. We are not sure who will the partner of Fakhar Zaman as the second opener.

David Wiese, Hussain Talat, Liam Dawson, Abdullah Shafique, Kamran Ghulam, and Jordan Cox are other batsmen in the squad of Lahore Qalandars. The Qalandars are much stronger than almost all teams of PSL 8 in the bowling department. Shaheen Afridi will be leading the bowling unit of Lahore Qalandar with Haris Rauf as a second partner. Shah Shah Afridi has a habit of taking wickets his very first over but this is also a fact that the top batting order of Multan Sultans is very strong. It will very interesting to see the battle between Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Rizwan. Haris Rauf had just been outstanding in BPL and he also has a good record while playing his home team. It was the management of the Qalandars who found diamonds from the dust in the shape of Haris Rauf. Dilbar Hussain is another experienced bowler and he also played a lot of matches for Qalandars. He has experience playing in the conditions of Australia in BBL and we are sure that he will perform well for Lahore Qalandars. Rashid Khan is another well-known bowler of Lahore Qalandars.

Multan Sultans had faced Lahore Qalandars in 13 matches where they won 7 matches while Lahore Qalandars won 6 matches.

According to today’s prediction, Multan Sultans is the favorite team to win this match. There are many factors that make Multan Sultans a favorite team to win this match.

• The batting order of Multan Sultans is very strong
• Multan Sultans are playing at their home ground and will be supported by the crowd
• Lahore Qalandars will miss their key players in this match
• The bowling unit of Lahore Qalandars is strong and in good form
• Multan Sultans has its key players available for this match

Multan Sultans is overall a strong team as compared to the Lahore Qalandars especially when it comes to batting. The batting and bowling squad of the Multan Sultans is strong at least on paper, so the winning chances of today’s match for Multan Sultans have been increased. The equation of winning chances of both teams for today’s match is mentioned as under.

Multan Sultans have a 52% chance to win this match
Lahore Qalandars has a 48% chance to win this match

The toss is going to play an important role in almost all matches of Pakistan Super League season 8. We had seen in the previous editions of this tournament that chase is the best option for both teams at the venue of Multan. Almost 70% of matches had been won by bowling first. According to toss prediction, the team who will win the toss may choose to field first.

The 1st match of the Pakistan Super League season 2023 is scheduled to be held at Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan. The pitch at this venue is known to be batting-friendly with a good balance between ball and bat. The pitch has a true bounce that allows good strokes to play. This patch also offers some help to the spinners with the progress of the match which make it a challenging venue for both batsmen and bowlers. The wicket is expected to be hard and bouncy with the ball coming onto the bat nicely. The conditions are generally hot and dry which can make the pitch slow down a bit during the latter half of the match. Dew will also play a role in the second inning. According to the live cricket score, a total of 180 runs should be a par score.

The weather forecast in Multan is good for a cricket match. The temperatures can range from 20 to 25 degrees during the day and can drop to 10 to 15 at night. Dew will start falling after 9 PM. The forecast is predicting almost no chances of rain on match day and we will have a full match to enjoy.

Multan Sultans: Mohammad Rizwan, Khushdil Shah, Rilee Rossouw, Shan Masood, Shahnawaz Dahani, Tim David, Abbas Afridi, Ihsanullah, David Miller, Josh Little, Akeal Hosein, Usama Mir, Usman Khan, Sameen Gul, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Sarwar, Adil Rashid.

Lahore Qalandars: Rashid Khan, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, David Wiese, Abdullah Shafique, Harry Brook, Kamran Ghulam, Zaman Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Hussain Talat, Sikandar Raza, Liam Dawson, Dilbar Hussain, Mirza Tahir Baig, Ahmed Danlyal, Shawaiz Irfan.

It will be updated shortly

• Date: Monday, 13th February 2023
• Time: 02:30 PM GMT / 07:30 PM LOCAL / 08:00 PM IST

• Stadium: Multan Cricket Stadium
• Location: Multan, Pakistan
• Capacity: 30000
• Ends: Main Pavilion End, North Pavilion End
• Time Zone: UTC +05:00
• Home to: Multan
• Floodlights: Yes

• Total matches: 10
• Matches won batting first: 5
• Matches won bowling first: 5
• Average 1st Inns scores: 254
• Average 2nd Inns scores: 206
• Highest total recorded: 323/3 (50 Ov) by PAK vs BAN
• Lowest total recorded: 148/10 (38.3 Ov) by ZIM vs PAK
• The highest score chased: 306/5 (49.2 Ov) by PAK vs WI
• The lowest score defended: 272/9 (50 Ov) by PAK vs ZIM

Mohammad Rizwan, Khushdil Shah, Rilee Rossouw, Shan Masood, Shahnawaz Dahani, Tim David, Abbas Afridi, Ihsanullah, David Miller, Josh Little, Akeal Hosein, Usama Mir, Usman Khan, Sameen Gul, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Sarwar, Adil Rashid, Arafat Minhas, Kieron Pollard, Ammad Butt, Wayne Parnell, Izharulhaq Naveed.