TSK vs WSF Preview | Texas Super Kings and Washington Freedom eye direct spot in final

ByUmesh Sharma,SportsCafe Editor

Today at 4:49 PM

Two table toppers of the tournament’s league stage, the Texas Super Kings and the table leaders Washington Freedom, will face each other in the first qualifier of the tournament’s third edition. Both teams will aim to secure a direct spot in the tournament’s summit clash with a win in this game.

Washington Freedom finished their league-stage campaign at the top with a 6-wicket win against MI New York in their last league game. They ended up with eight wins and only two defeats in their 10 league matches. Now, they will aim to continue their winning momentum and make it to the tournament's finals.

On the other hand, the Faf du Plessis-led Texas Super Kings finished their league campaign in the second spot on the tournament standings. They defeated the Seattle Orcas by 51 runs in their last league match. They are coming off four wins and only one defeat in their last five games in the tournament. The yellow outfits will also be looking forward to defeating WSF and making a direct entry for the title clash.

Form Guide

TSK: W W W L

WSF: W W L W W

TSK vs WSF Head-to-Head in T20S

Texas Super Kings and Washington Freedom have faced each other on five occasions in the history of Major League Cricket since the tournament’s first edition. Washington Freedom have won three games while TSK have won only one game, alongside a ‘no result’ game. TSK registered their first win in head-to-head clashes against WSF in the recently played 23rd game in the tournament’s current edition.

TSK 40-60 WSG

Pitch and Weather

The surface at the Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium in Dallas is known for favouring the batters, especially in the first innings. However, things might turn in favour of the bowlers, mostly the pacers, as the game progresses in the second innings. So, the toss-winning skipper will aim to bat first and defend the target under bowling-friendly conditions.

The weather will be quite a bit hot and humid, with some cloud covers in the beginning of the game. There will be no rain interruptions throughout the entire course of the game. The minimum temperature will be 24 degrees Celsius, alongside maximum temperature of 32 degrees Celsius.

Team News

Texas Super Kings have been enjoying a brilliant run of form in their last five games, with their current winning combination. Considering the brilliant performance of both the batters and the bowlers, skipper Du Plessis and the team management might field the same playing XI they played with in their last league match against Seattle Orcas.

On the other hand, the Washington Freedom also had an amazing outing in the last, defeating the MI New York by 6 wickets. So, they are also expected to refrain from executing any new experiment in an all-important and a must-win game like qualifier.

TSK Probable XI: Smit Patel (WK), Faf du Plessis (C), Saiteja Mukkamalla, Marcus Stoinis, Shubham Ranjane, Donovan Ferreira, Calvin Savage, Akeal Hosein, Noor Ahmad, Zia Ul Haq Muhammad, and Adam Milne

WSF Probable XI: Mitchell Owen, Rachin Ravindra, Mukhtar Ahmed, Andries Gous (WK), Glenn Phillips, Glenn Maxwell (C), Jack Edwards, Mark Chapman, Obus Pienaar, Ian Holland, and Saurabh Netravalkar.