After their 5th game being a washout, Islamabad United was back on the park facing off against Karachi Kings.
Powerplay struggles
Any team would take scoring 47 for the loss of 1 wicket in the powerplay overs. But for Islamabad United who looks to attack the powerplay overs to give their side a strong start this was a poor powerplay.
This season they have had scores of 55/2, 63/0, 51/2 & 57/3 in the powerplay. Which are a total 226 runs in 24 overs of powerplay at 9.41 runs per over. Today Islamabad managed to score only 47 which is 7.83 runs per over, way below the standard set for them.
Islamabad’s struggles were down to some good bowling from Karachi Kings, their captain Imad Wasim just conceded 12 runs in his two powerplay overs while Amir went for 13 runs and picked a wicket in his two overs. So there was no room given for the Islamabad top order to attack.
Luke Ronchi loves Karachi Kings
Prior to this game, Luke Ronchi had an average of 87.67 at 11.2 runs per over. He simply loves playing against Karachi. In the 5 innings he has played against them he has scored 50+ in 3 of those innings.
So today when he scored runs against Karachi Kings, it was no surprise as he loves this bowling attack. But today the knock was far more subdued than his usual knocks against Karachi, for starters he scored his 50 in 40 balls which is by Ronchi standards a very slow inning. He scored at just 8.79 runs per over in this innings lower than his career average of 11.2 runs per over against the Kings.
Yes, Ronchi did score runs against Karachi Kings but this was not the fluent Ronchi innings we are used to against the Kings side.
Rizwan Hussain’s shot
Your first ball in the PSL and you play this stunner of a shot. Is there any way someone could marry a shot?
Umer Khan steps up
This was Umer Khan’s second PSL game this season, but today was the first time he bowled this season. Imad strangely did not give Umer a single over against Multan Sultans, but Imad corrected his error and called up Umer Khan straight away after the powerplay overs and he repaid Imad immediately by picking the wicket or Rizwan Hussain.
He ended up finishing his 4 overs just conceding 24 runs, given Islamabad United’s poor start in the powerplay. Umer Khan came in and just slowed down United’s batting even further.
Also, take note of Umer’s victims in the PSL.
- Shan Masood
- Sohail Akhtar
- AB de Villiers
- Shane Watson (twice)
- Luke Ronchi
- Hussain Talat
- Corey Anderson
- James Vince
- Shoaib Malik
- Dan Christian
- Rilee Rossouw
- Umar Akmal
- Cameron Delport
- Chadwick Walton
- Rizwan Hussain
All of them are top-order batsmen, these are great especially given how Umer Khan is still an emerging player.
Islamabad’s pace bowlers falter
Karachi Kings chased down the target with ease, but the ease with which they did it was not expected given Islamabad’s bowling attack which even included debutant Dale Steyn.
But the pace bowlers had a bad day on the park, with their figures reading 12.4 overs, 2/76 that’s 11.3 runs per over. Karachi Kings loved the pace they were offered and combine that with the poor lengths bowled by the ISLU pacers, they were duly punished.
The spinners on the other end bowled 6 overs and conceded just 44 runs with 1 wicket. But 4 of those overs were bowled by Shadab Khan who conceded just 23 runs.
Shadab Khan’s rising stocks as a batter
It’s time you go ahead and buy the stocks in Shadab Khan – The batsman. This season Shadab has been a revelation with the bat, he has come out with the intent to take on the bowler and put the pressure back on them and it has seen some great results for the side. For the first time he has scored more than 100 runs in a season, this season he has scored 153 runs in 4 innings, which translates to 38.25 runs per innings but what has been a huge positive is his scoring rate, he has scored all these runs at 10 runs per over, which is a significant jump from his career average run rate of 7.32 runs per over.
Where does Islamabad United stand?
After 6 games, Islamabad United stand with 5 points thanks to 2 wins and one washout game. They have their task cut out, they have to win all their remaining games if they want to finish in the top 2 and hope for the other results to go their way. And all this starts when the side goes to Lahore to take on Lahore Qalandars.