Not how we planned the season to go. But here we are, out of the tournament having secured just 7 points. It’s been a poor tournament, but it could have been a lot different if the side had some luck it’s way. But that’s the beauty of this sport, some days luck shines on you and some days it’s no where around for to be seen.
Islamabad’s lack of big scoring overs
Islamabad had 3 overs where they scored 12 runs each, those were their 3 big scoring overs. 36 runs in 3 overs and 100 runs in the remaining 17 overs.
Islamabad United’s 100 in 17 overs also came at just under 6 runs an over. With average scoring rate in the league being close to 8.8 runs per over, Islamabad not being to able to even score at that rate in their low scoring overs was a below par effort for the side.
Sharjeel Khan matched ISLU’s high scoring overs in just 12 balls. That was the difference between Karachi’s batting and Islamabad’s batting on the day.
Where are the boundaries?
This season Islamabad has been dealing with boundaries, they have scored at 5.7 boundary runs per over which is the best in the league, that converts to 114 runs in boundaries in 20 overs.
Islamabad’s boundary scoring has been reliant on Luke Ronchi & Colin Munro both who have combined to score at 6.03 runs in boundaries per over. They both also have combined to score 41% of all runs in boundaries scored by Islamabad United batsman. So when you lose your best boundary scorers and your significant contributors to the boundaries, you will see a dip.
That dip came for Islamabad in a must win game. Islamabad scored just 54 runs in boundaries through their 20 overs at just 2.7 boundary runs per overs. That’s way below their average through this season.
Scoring boundaries wasn’t easy against Karachi Kings, but they did one better and made it near impossible.
While Islamabad United found it hard to score boundaries, Karachi never had such troubles scoring 86 boundary runs in 116 balls.
Even though Karachi had faced the most dot balls in an innings for a game in Karachi this season, all they had to do was out hit Islamabad with boundaries and that’s what they did.
Musa Khan’s quick return
Bowling the first over of the second innings, Musa was pummelled by Sharjeel Khan for 20 runs. It was a terrible over with Musa erring on line and length, but he eventually finished with figures of 1/24 in his 4 overs.
His second over which was the last over Karachi’s powerplay was the over which started Karachi’s slow down. He didn’t concede a single run and picked the big wicket of Babar Azam, his next two overs just saw him conceded 4 runs.
That’s 1 wicket for 4 runs in just three overs. All this after that horrendous first over.
Karachi’s slowdown
Karachi Kings started brilliantly, scoring 60 runs in the first 5 overs. That saw the required run rate go from 6.85 to 5.13 RPO.
Islamabad though contained things very well, conceding just 47 runs from overs 5 to 17. That’s 47 runs in 12 overs, that’s 3.9 runs per over. That slowdown gave Islamabad United a chance to come back in the game as Karachi needed 30 runs in the final 3 overs.
Shadab Khan’s late entry
Shadab Khan entered the attack in the 12th over of the innings, there were questions as to why did he introduce himself so late in the innings.
But the game was to take the game longer, with Musa who had a rhythm going, bowling him out made sense. Zafar Gohar came in and just kept it tight.
So Shadab walking in had to just increase the required run rate and that’s what he did with those economical overs and big wickets.
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Islamabad United didn’t make it to knockout stages of the PSL for the first time in their history. But Islamabad United will ensure their fans that they will come back better next season. Thank you so much for your love and support. Until next time.
#UnitedWeWin