LAHORE – Pakistan Super League’s Karachi-leg commences on March 9, Saturdaywith a mouth-watering contest between defending champions Islamabad Unitedand Lahore Qalandars with both the sides aiming to strengthen their chancesof securing play-off spots.United are currently occupying third spot with eight points from ninegames, while Qalandars are sitting in fifth spot with six points from eightmatches.

A win will guarantee Islamabad a safe passage to the next round, it willmake Qalandars’ aspiration of progressing to the next stage extremelydifficult as they will have to win their last match against Multan Sultans(Monday, March 11) with a massive margin that can improve their netrun-rate, according to an analysis carried out here on Thursday night.For this crucial encounter, only a handful of tickets are available andboth captains – Mohammad Sami of Islamabad United and Lahore Qalandars’Fakhar Zaman – were quick to urge the fans to purchase these before are outof stock.These tickets are available through yayvo.comand designated TCS expresscentres.”I have played my whole life at the National Stadium, the city of lights. Irequest the fans to come in big numbers and support both United and the HBLPSL,” Sami said.Qalandars captain Fakhar Zaman said: “After the UAE-leg, we start thePakistan-leg with a big game against the United. It should be a fantasticmatch of cricket and I request all fans of Qalandars to turn-up in bignumbers and fill-up the remaining seats.”United have happy memories of the National Stadium when they won theirsecond HBL PSL title last year, defeating Peshawar Zalmi.The match begins at 7:00pm PST.APP/msa/zqr