After Lahore Qalandars, Islamabad United became the second team to qualify for the PSL 8 playoffs. They did it after beating Quetta Gladiators in a final over thriller. Read this blog to see the match happenings and the price changes of top players.
Match 21: Islamabad United vs. Quetta Gladiators
Islamabad United 180 for 9 (Munro 63, Farooqi 3/25) beat Quetta Gladiators 159 for 7 (Najibullah 59, Umaid 3/37) by 2 wickets.
Islamabad United invited Quetta Gladiators to bat first, and Quetta’s top order was blown away by Islamabad’s quicks. QG were in all sorts of trouble at 17 for 4 after 3 overs. Then, Mohammad Nawaz and Najibullah Zadran scored 104 runs in 64 deliveries to bring their team back into the match. Nawaz scored 52 off 44, while Zadran got 59 off 34.
But, it was Umar Akmal who drew the headlines with a punishing knock of 43*(14). He smashed 5 sixes and a couple of fours in his innings. Fazalhaq Farooqi picked 3 wickets, while Faheem Ashraf got 2. The United were asked to chase 180 runs in their 20 overs.
Unlike Quetta, Islamabad were off to a flying start. Rahmanullah Gurbaz(↓19%) and Alex Hales(↓13%) couldn’t contribute much, but Colin Munro was on top of his game. His astonishing innings of 63 runs in 29 balls helped IU get to 96 runs in the first 7 overs. They needed just 84 more runs in 78 deliveries, and it looked like a cakewalk. But 4 wickets falling for 15 runs tilted the game back in balance. Azam Khan and Faheem Ashraf were going slowly before the former launched the attack.
With 31 runs needed in the last 3 overs, Azam brought the equation down to 11 off 10. He got out for 35(25), and the remaining 4 deliveries of the penultimate over brought just 2 runs and a wicket. Faheem Ashraf was facing Odean Smith in the final over. The United were 8 down, and they needed 9 runs to win. Faheem hammered Odean for 3 easy boundaries to seal the deal. He finished with 39 off 31 while Umaid Asif grabbed 3 wickets.
Turning Point of the Match
The United were struggling to find the momentum as the equation was 45 of 26. But the next 13 balls went for 27 to make things easy for the chasing side.
SportiScore Analysis
Naseem Shah(↑7%) picked up a wicket on the second ball of the innings to send Rahmanullah Gurbaz(↓19%) packing. He bowled a fine spell of 1 for 28 in 4 overs to grab 13.6 bowling points. Alex Hales(↓13%) picked 2 SportiScores after scoring 12 off 9, with the help of a four and a six.
Let’s see the performances and SportiScores of the most prominent players on day 19:
Player Performance SportiScores Earned
Naseem Shah 1/28 13.6
Alex Hales 12(9) 2
Shadab Khan 8(4) & 0/32 -2.8
Asif Ali 6(9) -7
Rahmanullah Gurbaz 0(2) -7
Iftikhar Ahmed 2(8) & 1/19 -19.5
Market Update
Naseem Shah(↑7%) is the only name among the top players who got his stocks on day 19. His price went up by 3.9 SPQs. Iftikhar Ahmed(↓33%) had a poor day as his stocks fell by 29.5 SPQs. Rahmanullah Gurbaz(↓19%) and Asif Ali(↓16%) lost 17.8 and 16.2 SPQs from their price, respectively.
Let’s find out in detail how the prices have changed for the top players after the nineteenth day of the league:
Player SportiScores 05 Mar Price 06 Mar Price % Change Cumulative SPQs Earned
Naseem Shah 13.6 53.1 57 7% 26.9
Alex Hales 2 68.7 60.10 -13% 27.30
Shadab Khan -2.8 38.6 25 -35% -8.4
Asif Ali -7 104.4 88.20 -16% 59.60
Rahmanullah Gurbaz -7 95.9 78.1 -19% 44.7
Iftikhar Ahmed -19.5 90.2 60.70 -33% 29.70
