DUBAI February 12: Lahore Qalandars and Peshawar Zalmi have made similar starts to their HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2017 edition by winning one and losing one of their first two matches.

The two teams with strong fan base in Dubai head for a high octane clash when they take the field today at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, the match starts at 8:00 pm local time.

Daren Sammy’s Zalmi lost the tournament’s opening match against defending champions Islamabad United despite a formidable batting performance led by a brilliant innings by wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal who scored 88 runs.

They bounced back strongly against the Karachi Kings courtesy a man-of-the-match winning performance by England T20I and ODI captain Eoin Morgan after the bowlers had restricted the powerful Kings’ batting line-up to a below par score.

The cricket diehards in Dubai will be hoping for some batting brilliance by the crowd favourite Shahid Afridi today who has made a quiet start to the tournament.

On the other hand Brendon McCullum’s Qalandars would be hoping to build further on the momentum they gained by defeating United yesterday.

Jason Roy was the star of the show with a match winning half-century which helped his team overcome the bitter disappointment of the narrow loss against Quetta Gladiators on Friday.

Both teams have good all-round strength and would look to seal an important win to breathe easy at the start of the league with high pressure games expected in the days ahead.

Both teams won a game apiece in their two clashes in the inaugural PSL season last year, with the Sharjah encounter proving to be an absolute humdinger which was settled on the last ball of the game.

A repeat of that game will surely lit-up the PSL further after some absorbing games in the first three days of the tournament, the pitch is once again likely to help the batsmen while the slower bowlers can also expect some purchase on what is expected to be a typical Dubai track.