Islamabad United began their PSL 2022 campaign in an explosive fashion as they defeated Peshawar Zalmi by 9 wickets. Islamabad moves to the second spot on the PSL points table while Zalmi moves down to the fourth spot.
Peshawar Zalmi got off to a horrible start as they lost early wickets with Islamabad United bowling line-up restricting the run-flow along the way. Shoaib Malik and Sherfane Rutherford steadied the ship for Zalmi before Ben Cutting arrived in the middle and along with Rutherford, took Zalmi to a respectable total of 168/6.
Islamabad United’s openers got off to a flying start as they dismantled Zalmi’s bowling unit. Stirling and Hales registered quickfire fifties as United chased down the target with 9 wickets in hand. Zalmi bowlers had no answer for the onslaught and their only wicket came via a runout.
Stirling was named as the player of the match for his swashbuckling half-century. This was the second-fastest half-century in PSL history.
Pre-Match
Two-time PSL champions, Islamabad United will lock horns with last year’s finalists, Peshawar Zalmi, in the fifth match of the PSL 2022 on Sunday, 30 January. The match, scheduled at Karachi’s National Stadium, will start at 2:30 pm PST.
Match Preview
Peshawar will look to continue their winning momentum as they face Islamabad United in a high-octane clash at National Stadium Karachi. Peshawar pulled off an amazing run-chase in their previous outing as they chased down a target of 191 against Quetta Gladiators to register their first points on the PSL points table.
Zalmi will be further boosted by the inclusion of captain Wahab Riaz and veteran wicket-keeper batter Kamran Akmal as they have fully recovered from COVID-19.
Islamabad, on the other hand, will be stepping on to the pitch for the first time this season. Islamabad was the team to beat in the group stages of PSL 6. The Red Hot Squad broke the record for most group stage wins in a single edition of PSL as they won 8 out of their 10 matches. They did falter in the playoffs and were knocked out by Zalmi in the second eliminator.
However, Islamabad United now has an almost complete squad available for the encounter and will put a strong team in the field.
Peshawar is expected to make one change to their line-up from the previous match with Wahab coming back into the side at the expense of Sohail Khan.
Match Details
Date Sunday, 30 January 2022
Time 02:30 pm PKT
Venue National Stadium Karachi
Live Stream LINK
Check out the details of the match here.
Possible Playing XIs:
Islamabad Possible XI – Shadab Khan (c), Paul Stirling, Alex Hales, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Azam Khan (wk), Asif Ali, Mubasir Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim Jr., Hasan Ali, Marchant de Lange
Check out Islamabad’s full squad here
Peshawar Possible XI – Wahab Riaz (c), Tom Kohler-Cadmore (wk), Yasir Khan, Haider Ali, Hussain Talat, Shoaib Malik, Sherfane Rutherford, Ben Cutting, Usman Qadir, Sameen Gul, Pat Brown
Check out Peshawar’s full squad here
Head to Head
Overall, the two sides have come face to face 15 times in the tournament. Peshawar has an upper hand as they have won 8 while United have won 7. They last faced each other on 22 June 2021 in the second eliminator of PSL 6 in Abu Dhabi; Zalmi won it by 8 wickets.
X-Factor
While Peshawar had a few players contributing to their team’s success in the previous match, they did struggle a bit in the bowling department. Wahab Riaz is expected to turn around the fortunes of their bowling unit. The fiery pacer is the leading wicket-taker in PSL history and will be aiming to perform out of his skin in order to get back into the national team.
Islamabad, on the other hand, has an entire squad full of match winners. The likes of Shadab Khan, Alex Hales, Hasan Ali, Asif Ali and Paul Stirling have the ability to win the match on their own but our pick is a bit left-field. Mohammad Wasim Jr. has shown what he is capable of and his accurate death bowling and power-hitting ability makes him an incredible asset for any team around the world.
Source: Pro Pakistani