Fantasy Picks: Back the big-hitters, bank on Shane Watson and Colin Munro

Our XI: Shane Watson, Colin Ingram, Luke Ronchi, Colin Munro, Ahsan Ali, Asif Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Rumman Raees

Captain: Shane Watson

Watson has been among the top run-getters in the last two seasons of PSL. He topped the list last year and was the fifth-highest run-scorer in 2018. He has scored 96 runs at a strike rate of 145.45 in his last two innings against Islamabad.

Vice-captain: Colin Ingram

Ingram recorded the highest individual score (127*) in PSL history last season. The century came against the Gladiators under tremendous pressure. Even as a middle-order batsman, he was never dismissed by spin in PSL 2019. In fact, he scored 139 runs of 75 balls without getting dismissed by spinners.

Munro has been in red-hot form, scoring 188 runs at a strike rate of 131 in the recently-concluded five-match T20I series against India. Munro is a good pick against the Gladiators pace attack.

Hasnain was the third-highest wicket-taker for the Gladiators last season, picking up 12 wickets in seven games. He is also in great form, having picked up 15 wickets in his last six domestic limited-overs games.

Ali scored 178 runs in eight matches for the Gladiators at a strike rate of 130 last season. He also made his T20I debut against Bangladesh a few weeks back on the back of some good form in domestic cricket.

The 16-year old quick recently has been impressive for Pakistan since his debut, and he recently became the youngest bowler to bag a Test hat-trick. He is a must-pick in the T20 format as well.

In PSL 2019, the average first-innings score in Karachi was 184 and teams batting first won five out of eight games.