PSL 2019: AB de Villiers Ruled Out Due to a Back Issue
Mar 4, 2019 at 3:52 PM
In the ongoing fourth edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), Lahore Qalandars has faced a severe blow in the form of South Africa veteran AB de Villiers, who will miss out on Pakistan leg of PSL 2019 after developing a back issue.
With the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) leg culmination on March 5, the PSL franchise Qalandars will wrestle in the PSL 2019 without the services of impactful de Villiers. In the first seven fixtures, de Villiers had played a decent role for the Qalandars.
In seven matches, de Villiers has amassed 218 at an average of 54.50 with the best of 52 which came.
Also, due to the escalation between India and Pakistan, the PSL qualifiers including the grand finale will be played in Karachi. Pertinently, the home stretch of the domestic professional league will kick off with the qualifiers on March 9.
According to the ESPNcricinfo, considering the logistics issues has further pushed the PSL authorities to host games at the National Cricket Stadium (NCA) in Karachi.
Earlier, De Villiers was scheduled to play two games in Lahore for Qalandars on March 9 and ten respectively.
Recently, de Villiers maintained he would play two games for Lahore. But with the untimely injury has dashed the hopes of die-hard fans of de Villiers.
Where does Lahore stand on the points table?
With Peshawar Zalmi topping the charts of PSL 2019, Qalandars has won three out of seven games to maintain the fourth spot.
Earlier, this month skipper Mohammad Hafeez was ruled out due to a finger injury.
Also, in Hafeez’s absence, hard-hitting batsman Fakhar Zaman has had marshalled the troops of Qalandars. It came apart from that game when de Villiers shouldered the responsibility as acting skipper. Hafeez picked an injury during the fielding against Karachi Kings when he received a blow on the right thumb when South Africa recruit Colin Ingram played an audacious shot.
Meanwhile, Qalandars will face table-toppers Zalmi on March 5 (Tuesday).