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Eddie Chikamhi
Senior Sports Reporter
BRENDAN Taylor will team up with Zimbabwe cricket legend, Andy Flower, after the wicket-keeper/batsman was snatched up by table-toppers Multan Sultans for the 2020 Pakistan Super League play-offs.

Taylor, who was part of the Zimbabwe team during the recent tour of Pakistan, will not be returning home with the rest of the squad today.

The Chevrons lost both the ODI and T20I series but the 34-year-old was one of the leading lights with an historic century in one of the ODI games.

He immediately joined his new teammates.

The Sultans coaching staff, including Flower, Mushtaq Ahmad and Azhar Mahmood, was also expected in Karachi ahead of the start of the play-offs tomorrow.

“Firstly, thank you Pakistan Cricket Board for hosting us for the past four weeks, was great to be back.

“Secondly, thank you to the Multan Sultans for the opportunity to be a part of a great franchise.

“Look forward to meeting you all,” tweeted Taylor.

The 2020 Pakistan Super League play-offs are set to get underway this weekend with four teams competing.

The tournament was stopped abruptly in March due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Taylor could be in action as early as tomorrow when his new team faces Karachi Kings at the National Cricket Stadium in Karachi.

The finals of the Pakistan Super League have been set for next Tuesday.

Taylor and Englishman, Joe Denly, are the new additions to the side after they were roped in as replacements for Bangladesh’s Mahmudullah and English player, James Vince.

The two players were ruled out of the tournament after they tested positive for Covid-19, in the pre-departure tests, which were conducted in their home countries.

Taylor will join a side teeming with talent.

The outfit has established players like Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Usman Qadir, Junaid Khan (Pakistan), Ravi Bopara (England), Rilee Rossouw and South Africa’s Imran Tahir.

This is not the first time Taylor has been picked for the PSL.

He played for Lahore Qalandars in 2018-2019 but he scored only 17 runs before he succumbing to injury.

Under the stewardship of Zimbabwe great, Flower, Multan Sultans did well in the round-robin stage, losing just twice.

The side finished fifth in the previous edition.

They brought out the big guns ahead of this campaign, with former England boss, Flower, recruited as head coach, and leader of a backroom line-up that also features county stalwarts Mushtaq Ahmed and Azhar Mahmood as bowling coaches.

Former colleague, Richard Halsall, on fielding duty, and Nathan Leamon — the long-time analyst for the England side and a co-founder of CricViz — as director of strategy.

Flower has managed to turn around the fortunes of the side and they are looking to go all the way after qualifying for the play-offs. They finished the round-robin games sitting at the top of the tables after winning six of their 10 games and losing two.