ISU vs LQ: PREVIEW

The East Pakistan battle between Islamabad and Lahore is all set to take place at Karachi. Fresh from a win in their last respective games, both the teams have started well in PSL with 2 wins in the 3 outings so far.

Shadab Khan's ISU have been consistent courtesy Stirling & Hales at the top of the order. Colin Munro is also back in the mix since last game expanding the array of big hitters in their lineup which provides a firepower as good as any in the league. Bowling attack is led by Hasan Ali who is yet to bowl at his best but still they have managed to win so far.

Lahore Qalandars, on the other hand, looks a very stable side with a specialist bowling trio of Shaheen, Rashid and Haris Rauf. Lahore’s main strength has been Fakhar’s top form so far while Professor can provide stability in the middle.

Probable Playing XI

Islamabad United : Alex Hales, Paul Stirling , Colin Munro, Mubasir Khan, Azam Khan (wk), Shadab Khan (c), Asif Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Hasan Ali, Waqas Maqsood

Lahore Qalandars :  Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hafeez, Zeeshan Ashraf (wk), Dean Foxcroft, David Wiese, Rashid Khan, Shaheen Afridi (c), Haris Rauf, Zaman Khan

Key Players

Islamabad United

Alex Hales : Attacking opener Hales is having fantastic time in the PSL so far, scoring 127 of 3 innings at 164.93. He has managed to take his BBL form to PSL and has been able to give cracking starts to his team. Against LHQ, he managed to score 91 runs in 2 innings(1 dismissal) at SR of 154.2.

Asif Ali : Pakistan’s proven talisman in T20 WC 21, is arguably one of the best hitters on the globe at the moment. In PSL 2022, he hasn’t gotten many opportunities to entertain yet but he can wreak havoc on his day. His handy runs with the bat at the end of innings may result in match results. He is high scorer of ISUvsLHQ clashes with 238 runs on his name off 10 innings.

Shadab Khan : Skipper Shadab Khan has really been impressive with the ball for ISU. The leggie has so far picked up six wickets from three games averaging 14.16 including a fifer against the Quetta Gladiators. Shadab, the batter, has also looked decent so far. 

Faheem Ashraf : Faheem Ashraf hasn’t yet looked at his best in the league so far but all know what he is capable of. With the tournament heading towards the middle, Islamabad would surely want him to regain his form today. Indeed, LHQ is his favorite team to bowl to in PSL, has scalped 15 wickets in 6 innings. 

Lahore Qalandars 

Fakhar Zaman : Fakhar Zaman finally seems to have rediscovered his lost form and has been scoring consistently in the last couple of games. Striking at 186.46, he has scored 248 runs in 3 innings so far. Also, against ISU in PSL history, he has had a decent performance with 234 runs among 9 innings. A star to watch out for.

Mohammad Hafeez :Vastly experienced fellow of LHQ, Hafeez is having a good PSL season. He is exactly doing the work he has to do in the middle. He has been a perfect middle order batter over the years and doing no different here as well. Lahore would want him to go after the bowlers and find more n more gaps in the middle overs.  

Rashid Khan : We all know Rashid ‘Karamati’ Khan, the bowler is amazing but Rashid the batter is in some form these days. Being one of the best bowlers for his team, he has been phenomenal with his work. Rashid becomes more crucial in the middle overs while defending a total.

Shaheen Afridi : Captain Shaheen is in really great momentum this PSL season. Scalped 6 wickets in 3 innings conceding the runs at 7.5 eco did Shaheen. Shaheen is of course a very important guy for his team as picking early wickets will be his main aim. Also it is the fact that he likes to perform against ISU as his stats are fantastic when looked up to history.
 

Head to Head 

Overall : ISU lead 9-3
At Karachi: ISU lead 1-0
Last 5 games: ISU lead 4-1

Match Ups : 

ISU 

Alex Hales vs Shaheen : 17(6) no dismissal.
Azam Khan vs Rauf : 18(6) with no dismissal.
Shadab Khan vs Rauf : 21(10) with 2 dismissals.
Asif Ali vs Shaheen : 52(22) with 2 dismissals. But those 2 dismissals came in the last 5 balls. 
Asif Ali vs Rauf : 25(17) with no dismissal.
Hales and Azam Khan bat better in the 2nd innings in comparison to the first.
Faheem Ashraf averages(bowling avg) 18.3 while bowling first and 29.0 while bowling second.
 

LHQ

Fakhar vs Shadab : 30(28) with 3 dismissals.
Fakhar vs Faheem : 25(25) with 2 dismissals.
Hafeez vs Hasan : 0(2) with 1 dismissal.
Hafeez vs Ashraf : 32(15) with no dismissal.
Zeeshan Ashreaf has Batting Avg of 22.6 while batting first and 10.2 while batting 2nd.
Dean Foxcroft has avg of 46.8 while batting first and 23.7 while batting second. 
Haris Rauf and Rashid Khan bowl better in the 2nd innings. 
 

Fanstasy XI