Pakistan Super League season 1 champions began their season against defending champions Peshawar Zalmi. Islamabad United suffered a setback before the game as they lost captain Misbah-Ul-Haq through a hamstring injury, stand-in captain Rumman Raees won the toss and became the 3rd side in 4 games to chase after winning the toss — Karachi Kings being the exception — a decision which backfired as Peshawar Zalmi started their innings with a bang.
First Innings
On a good batting pitch, Peshawar Zalmi raced to 100 runs in 10 overs with Kamran Akmal and Tamim Iqbal attacking the United bowlers, Kamran Akmal racing to a half-century in just 30 balls. Islamabad United bowlers were too short and paid for it, but they managed to pull things back as they conceded just 76 runs in the final 10 overs. The last 4 overs when teams look to break free Islamabad United’s death bowling experience showed as they were on point, conceding 34 runs in their last 4 overs.
The bowlers struggled to find the right length and with a pitch suiting the batsman, any errors in length were severely punished. In the first 10 overs the bowlers conceded a boundary every 4 balls, this number increased to 7.5 balls per boundary in the back 10 overs of the innings.
Rumman Raees was the standout performer for Islamabad United as he picked one wicket and conceded 26 runs. Bowling his overs in the powerplay and the death overs, Rumman managed to make it hard for the opposition batsman to hit him for boundaries; while also not letting the batsmen rotate strike at the usual rate.
Second Innings
Luke Ronchi and Chadwick Walton opened for Islamabad United in their chase, but they did not get off to a good start. Umaid Asif, the bowler who hails from Sialkot dismissed both the openers in the 2nd over with some quick and short bowling, but Umaid was not done as he followed his double-wicket over with another double-wicket over which saw Asif Ali and Hussain Talat return to the pavilion. The chase derailed at this point and with the main aim of the rest of the batsmen looking to build an innings and look to chase, something which is not possible in the T20 format.
Islamabad United missed the presence of their Kaptaan Misbah-Ul-Haq who was in good form in the practice game scoring 42 runs in 30 balls, his ability to slow things down and absorb the pressure was something the side missed.
Ibtisam Sheikh, the young 19-year-old spinner picked crucial wickets of Shadab Khan, Samit Patel, and the big-hitting Andre Russell to end any chances Islamabad had to mount a comeback in the chase.
Islamabad United followed the same pattern as they did in the first innings, they started off poorly in the first 10 overs but they made a strong comeback in the final 10 overs. 6 wickets for just 61 runs on the board in the first 10 overs derailed Islamabad United’s chase but in the final 10 overs they added 81 runs for the loss of 3 wickets.
Faheem Ashraf who walked in to bat at 9 — which shows how deep Islamabad United bats — scored a quickfire 50 in 29 balls, he ended up with 54 runs in 30 balls but his ability to score quickly is something to look forward to as an Islamabad United supporter.
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Dean Jones at the press conference described Islamabad United’s batting as rusty and disappointing, the side will be looking to shake off the rust as soon as possible and face the PSL newcomers Multan Sultans in less than 24 hours, who have started the tournament well with 2 wins in 2 games.