PSL Match 24: IU vs PZ Preview

Islamabad United will be against the Peshawar Zalmi in the 24th match of PSL 2022. Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore will be the venue for this match.

Islamabad United have done well in the tournament till now. They are at the 4rd position with 4 wins and 3 defeats in 8 matches. Their batters and bowlers have done well till now but things might change for them as their star openers Alex Hales has pulled out of PSL 2022 due to bio bubble fatigue. Paul Stirling has already left for national duty while Rahmanullah Grubaz is expected to leave for national duty as well. Their strength is their explosive top order and almost each of their star overseas batters have left. Shadab Khan, the main man for Islamabad, is injured and will miss this game. Islamabad’s batting is suddenly looking very weak but they have the likes of Azam Khan, Asif Ali, Faheem Ashraf, etc. Colin Munro’s participation in this game is not confirmed either. They have to be at their best as this is a very crucial time in the tournament. 

Peshawar Zalmi, on the contrary, have found stability and are looking good as a team. The likes of Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Haris, Hazratullah Zazai, Ben Cutting, etc have been very consistent for them in the batting unit. They defeated the Quetta Gladiators by 24 runs in the last match. Usman Qadir, Salman Irshad, and Liam Livingstone have been consistent wicket-takers for them. Livingstone is yet to do something big in PSL 2022 and it shouldn't be far as he is a quality player and will perform when his side needs him the most. Zalmi are at the 4th position with 4 wins and 4 defeats in 8 matches.

Pitch Report

The pitches in PSL 2022 have been brilliant for batting and this one won’t be any different. Lahore has been an excellent batting venue as almost all the games here have been high scoring (180-200). Targets of around 170-180 have been chased down easily so teams have to put up a good total while batting first. Chasing will be preferred on this ground.
 

Probable Playing XIs

Islamabad United: Azam Khan (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Muhammad Akhlaq, Colin Munro, Asif Ali (c), Faheem Ashraf, Liam Dawson, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Hasan Ali, Zeeshan Zameer, Merchant de Lange

Peshawar Zalmi: Mohammad Haris (wk), Hazratullah Zazi, Liam Livingstone, Haider Ali, Shoaib Malik, Sherfane Rutherford, Ben Cutting, Wahab Riaz (c), Usman Qadir, Salman Irshad, Mohammad Umar

Head to Head

Overall: Both teams have won 8 games each
Last 5 HTHs: Peshawar leads 3-2
This season: Islamabad leads 1-0
Last game: Islamabad United won by 9 wickets with 25 balls remaining

Match Ups

Peshawar Zalmi
Malik vs Hasan Ali: 74 runs off 44 balls with 2 dismissals
Cutting vs Hasan Ali: 7 runs off 6 balls with 2 dismissals
Livingstone vs Shadab: 83 runs off 59 balls with 3 dismissals
Hazrtullah vs M Wasim: 22 runs off 9 balls with 1 dismissal

Islamabad United
Shadab vs Wahab: 35 runs off 28 balls with 4 dismissals
Asif vs Wahab: 16 runs off 20 balls with 2 dismissals
Asif vs S Irshad: 30 runs off 10 balls with no dismissals
Shadab vs Cutting: 19 runs off 10 balls with 2 dismissal (190 SR)

Key Players

Islamabad United

● Faheem Ashraf: Faheem Ashraf is expected to bat in the middle-order in the absence of the star players. He has done well with the bat scoring 91 runs at an average of 45.50, striking at 202.22. He has picked 2 wickets as well but that was in the initial games as he has been wicket-less in the last 4-5 games. 

● Azam Khan: Azam Khan is one of the most aggressive batters in PSL and has been decent. He has scored 125 runs at an average of 25 and striking at 154.32. Azam scored 65 against Quetta and will get the chance to bat at 3 or 4 in this game. 

● Waqas Maqsood: Waqas Maqsood has been brilliant with the ball. He has 9 wickets in 4 games at an economy of 8.18 and his strike-rate is 10.6. He has been a wicket-taker and expectations will be high from him in the absence of Shadab. 

Peshawar Zalmi

● Shoaib Malik: Veteran Shoaib Malik has shown his class in the PSL till now. He scored 52 in the last game which was his second fifty of this season. He has 276 runs to his name at an average of 46 and is striking at 139.39. Malik has been the pillar for Peshawar in the middle-order. 

● Mohammad Haris: Mohammad Haris has boosted the top order of Zalmi with his intentful batting. He has scored 78 in two matches at a strike-rate of 177. Haris has attacked from the first ball in the power play and will look to give another good start to his team. 

● Ben Cutting: Cutting has done a really good job in the last few games as the finisher for Peshawar. He struggled initially but has been pretty consistent in the last few games. His last 3 scores are, 36, 26, 33, and 52. His strike-rate was above 165 in all these games. Cutting will look to continue his good form. 

Fantasy Tips

Top captain and vice-captain picks:

● Shoaib Malik
● Hazratullah Zazai
● Liam Livingstone
● Ben Cutting
● Azam Khan
 

Dream11 Team 

Disclaimer:  This team is based on the writer's understanding of the game and does not guarantee to win in fantasy cricket. Users are advised to create their own teams with the information provided.