Islamabad United played their first game at their home ground of Rawalpindi and it was a close match which saw them lose in the final over thanks to a Cutting special. But there were a lot of other things to look at during the game.
How lucky is Sarfaraz with the toss?
A coin toss can go either way, there is always a 50% chance of a captain winning or losing the toss. But for Sarfraz Ahmed is very different when it comes to tosses, he wins more tosses than he has lost. Sarfraz Ahmed has won 65% of the coin tosses, he is one lucky man when it comes to tosses. Winning the toss has a significant advantage in the PSL as the side which wins the toss goes on to win the match 60% of the time.
PSL comes to Rawalpindi
It’s been a long time coming, but the most successful PSL franchise finally get to play in their hometown. Rawalpindi has been hosting test cricket and they turned out in numbers to support the Pakistan side. With the PSL coming the Pindi fans did not disappoint, turning out in numbers to support the home team. Islamabad United have been waiting to play a home game in Rawalpindi and their fans gave them a warm welcome at home.
Explosive powerplay
The powerplay is when you get to see the most high octane overs after the death overs, the powerplay in the first innings had everything. Some exciting fast bowling courtesy Naseem Shah and some equally explosive batting from Islamabad United.
Quetta picked 3 wickets, but Islamabad United responded with 57 runs. Munro scoring 31 runs in 20 balls. The power play overs are where teams can set the games up, Quetta went by bowling 6 overs of express pace with Naseem Shah, Tymal Mills, Sohail Khan & Mohd Hasnain.
Islamabad United responded by attacking from ball one with Ronchi taking 10 runs off his first two balls, with Munro continuing that quick start. There was nothing to separate both sides after the powerplay and that’s down to both sides sticking to their game plan in the early stages.
Shadab Khan – The Batsman?
Shadab Khan has walked out to bat at the fall of the third wicket. Shadab continued with the attacking start provided by the top 3 batsmen, adding 76 runs in 50 balls in the company of Ingram whose role was to bat through the innings.
Shadab showed off his shots and his tendency to attack in the power play overs, which is a huge asset came through for Islamabad United. His run rate of 10.44 RPO is the best in the PSL this season, just ahead of his partner Ingram at 10.38 RPO. Today he scored 38 runs in 23 balls at 9.9 runs per over, ensuring United’s run rate never dipped below 9.5 runs per over.
Naseem Shah – WHATTEY BEAUTY
Naseem Shah is 16. He is quick. He is exciting. He picked 2 wickets which saw the stumps tumble over (fast bowler’s dream) and bowled brilliantly in the death overs.
There is nothing more to add about him, just go watch his wickets package from this game, you will get what I mean.
The death overs
Islamabad United scored 154 runs in the first 15 overs with 104 of those runs coming in boundaries, the last 5 overs saw United just add 33 more runs to their total with 20 runs coming in boundaries.
Islamabad’s lack of runs in the final overs was down to some world-class death bowling from the Quetta bowlers. Tymal Mills varied his pace and length in his 2 overs, conceding just 10 runs and picking 2 wickets. If Tymal Mills was good, Naseem Shah was even better conceding 8 runs in his two overs and picking the wicket of Faheem Ashraf. 18 runs were conceded by these two bowlers. It was only Sohail Khan’s final which saw him concede 15 runs which saw United score 187 instead of 180 which was very much plausible given the brilliant of Mills and Musa.
Islamabad’s death overs with the ball did not go their way as well. They entered the phase needing to defend 55 runs in 5 overs and ended up losing with 2 balls to spare despite keeping the RRR in check for most of the innings.
Islamabad United did well for the first 15 overs of both the innings, but it was the final 5 overs which cost them the match.
Safi Abdullah increases the RRR
Quetta needing 125 runs in 13 overs at 9.61 runs per over, with Jason Roy out there. Islamabad needed that RRR to keep going up, in came Safi Abdullah who bowled his 3 overs after which the RRR jump up to 10.5 runs per over.
Safi conceded just 17 runs in his 3 overs and picked the wicket of Azam Khan and Jason Roy, an extra over in between would have helped Islamabad but Sarfraz Ahmed was playing the spinners well at this point.
Ben Cutting special
When Sarfraz Ahmed was dismissed, Quetta needed 55 runs in 29 balls, in walks Ben Cutting who has been severely ill and played a blinder of a knock.
Cutting knew that if Quetta had to win this game, he would be the man who needed to face the bulk of the deliveries which he did by facing 17 of the 27 balls he was out there for. His big-hitting was what changed the game as he plundered 4 maximums on the way to a crucial victory for Quetta.
Next up for Islamabad United is Peshawar Zalmi on 29th February in Rawalpindi.