1. With qualification for the playoffs wrapped up, Islamabad United made 3 changes with Shadab Khan, Mohd Waseem and Ali Khan being rested while Zafar Gohar, Akif Javed and Brandon King were given starts.
Wrapping up qualification with 2 games to play gives Islamabad United the opportunity to rest their players ahead of the playoffs, the side has played 5 games in 8 days and taking into account the heat in Abu Dhabi, any rest would make a huge difference.
Another player who wasn’t part of the 11 was Faheem Ashraf, who was supposed to be out for 3 games, but with qualification wrapped up, IU could afford to give him more time to recover from his injury.
2. Islamabad United scored 247/2 in 20 overs. TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY-SEVEN RUNS IN TWENTY OVERS.
This Islamabad United total was the
- Highest PSL score (beating their own record of 238 vs Lahore Qalandars)
- Highest T20 score in Abu Dhabi
- Highest score in Pakistan T20 domestic tournaments (beating Karachi Dolphins’ 243)
99 runs were scored in the first 10 overs by Islamabad United, against Zalmi who have been good with the ball in the Abu Dhabi leg, this was a good start. But that first half just served as a trailer for things to come as Islamabad plundered 148 runs in the final 10 overs of their innings.
Teams have scored a 4 every 8.5 balls and a 6 every 18.9 balls in the Abu Dhabi leg this season (before today’s game), Islamabad scored a 4 every 4.8 balls and a 6 every 9.2 balls. The side was looking for boundaries first before any other scoring option and it showed today when a side scored more boundaries (38 boundaries) than dot balls (32). If you look at only the runs scored through boundaries by Islamabad United in this game (178 runs), it would have been the 7th highest total of the Abu Dhabi leg of the PSL after 12 games played.
3. Colin Munro scored at 10.3 Runs per Over and he was the slowest batsman on the day. That’s how insane the Islamabad innings was.
But a bit on Munro’s innings, Munro this season has scored at 13 runs per over against spin and 9.9 against pace. He is the only batsman in this Islamabad side who scores quicker against spin than he does against pace.
Today against Zalmi he did not take risks against the Zalmi pacers, giving them respect as can be seen with the fact that he scored 16 runs in 15 balls against them at just over a run a ball. But against spinners, he scored 32 runs in 13 balls at 14.76 runs per over. Munro specifically targeted Zalmi’s young spinner, Abrar Ahmed, scoring 28 runs in 8 balls against him at 21 runs per over, Abrar in his previous game against Karachi Kings conceded just 14 runs in his 4 overs.
4. Asif Ali was promoted to 3 when the first wicket fell with Islamabad United 98/1 with 61 balls left in the innings. Islamabad had a good start and sending Asif Ali was a clear indication that they are looking to score as many boundaries as they can in those 61 balls.
Asif Ali did not disappoint as Islamabad United added 47 runs in his 3 overs stay at the crease at 15.66 runs per over, Asif faced 14 balls and scored 43 runs at 18.42 runs per over.
That was the momentum shift Islamabad United needed, the scoring rate was 9.97 runs per over when Asif walked out to bat when he was dismissed the scoring rate was 11.3 runs per over. Asif Ali walked in added momentum in an innings which was already going to get some speeding fines in Abu Dhabi.
5. Brandon King scored 5.56 runs in boundaries per over, he was picked to specifically score boundaries and today he did exactly that. King at one point was batting on 8 having faced 9 balls in the innings. Given the warp speed at which this innings was going, his start seemed out of place, but all he was doing was getting his eye in as he ended with 46 runs in 22 balls, adding 38 runs in 13 balls at 17.5 runs per over.
Islamabad United was always going to attack given their deep batting and the start they had. So it was an obvious choice when Brandon was sent out to bat ahead of Ifthikar Ahmed, Hussain Talat.
6. With Shadab Khan rested, it was Usman Khawaja who walked out for the toss. It was the local boy captaining the side and it was a memorable debut as skipper for Uzzie.
Usman Khawaja is the designated “anchor” in this Islamabad lineup, given the quick scorers around him, his job is to maximise scoring in the powerplay overs by piercing the gaps in the field with cricketing shots.
Today Khawaja played that role and more, there was a point in his innings where he was 57 runs in 38 balls at 9 runs per over, with the way T20 cricket has been evolving towards higher scores, the role of the anchor evolves as well and at 9 runs per over it was him “anchoring” the innings, but basically, he wasn’t giving any sort of respite for the Zalmi bowlers.
A good anchor is not only good against all kinds of bowling so that they can help their partners against bowlers who trouble them but once they get to the end overs they should even have the shift in scoring rates.
Usman Khawaja had that gear shift to his batting, from the point of 57 in 38 balls, he ended the innings with 105 runs in 56 balls. That’s 48 runs added in 18 balls at 16 runs per over. This was an anchor innings, but one which shows how the roles will be played in the coming years of T20 cricket.
7. In a match where the scoring rate was 11.98 runs per over, it was a tough day to be a bowler. But there was one man who was a class above the rest with the ball.
Hasan Ali bowled 4 overs for 30 runs at 7.5 runs per over and picked the key wicket of Sherfane Rutherford who at one point was threatening to take the game away from Islamabad United. In high scoring games such as this one, all it needs is one bowler to do what Hasan did to be the difference at the end.