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LAHORE: Record three-time champions Islamabad United will lock horns with two-time winners Lahore Qalandars in what could be an exciting opener of the HBL PSL 10 which will explode into action at the Pindi Stadium in Rawalpindi on Friday (tomorrow).
This is the first time that the marquee event’s opener is being held in Rawalpindi. And this is also the first instance that one of the richest leagues of the world is being conducted in April-May, a timeframe during which weather is normally too hot as temperature has already started rising so fast. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had to opt for this window as the nation had to host the ICC Champions Trophy which was conducted successfully in recent days.
Shadab Khan-led United will have a huge crowd support in Pindi, which is their home ground. The venue will also pull crowd from Peshawar which has not hosted any competitive cricket for the last 18 years.
Shadab Khan said they have all bases covered.
“Although we won trophy last year but we have tried to fill in those zones where we lacked in. We tried to bring in some pace and for that we have kept some offshore resources. Our all three emerging players are Pakistan’s future, although some of them may not get enough opportunity,” Shadab said on Thursday.
“Whenever we play in Pindi we feel a lot of excitement as it is our home ground. When we had started it was not that good as we did not have an idea how to play in Pindi Stadium. We formed our combination accordingly and hopefully you will see exciting cricket,” said Shadab, who also was recently included in Pakistan’s T20 squad for New Zealand tour after being kept away for quite some time due to his below-par showing in the ICC T20 World Championship in the US and West Indies where Green-shirts faced group stage exit.
Besides some big local names including Naseem Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Azam Khan, Sahibzada Farhan, Imad Wasim and dashing batsman Haider Ali United also boast on some prolific foreign players including Colin Munro, Jason Holder, Liam Holgate, Andries Gous, Riley Meredith and Matthew Short.
United’s spokesman told Nukta that all foreign stuff have already reached Islamabad.
The team did train for a few days in the twin cities under their head coach Mike Hesson who is also optimistic about his brigade’s chances of delivering even better than the last year’s exploit which helped them win the crown for the third time, becoming the only franchise to do so in the PSL history.
Meanwhile Qalandars, who won two back-back titles under Shaheen Afridi in 2022 and 2023 editions following some unimpressive seasons despite having top resources, have their own problems. Some of their highly experienced local stuff, also including skipper Shaheen, have been passing through lean patch in international circuit. It would be interesting to see how they deliver and get early momentum which will be extremely necessary for the most popular franchise which last season won just one game out of ten.
Their key opener Fakhar Zaman is back from injury. He was seen training hard for the last few days at Lahore and it would be interesting to see how he delivers in the first few games after having missed four away tours and a key game in the Champions Trophy against India in Dubai due to fitness issues.
But there is no doubt that Qalandars have some solid foreign resources in the shape of Daryl Mitchel, who also can bowl well, Kusal Perera, Zimbabwe’s all-rounder Sikandar Raza, all popular David Wiese, Sam Billings and Tom Curran.
Qalandars boast on their superb bowling attack which has the likes of Shaheen, Haris Rauf, Zaman Khan, Jahandad Khan and Bangladeshi leg-spinner Rishad Hossain.
“Win and loss are part of the game. When you win you don’t realise where you have made mistakes. When an event ends then we analyse the entire process and then plan for the next edition. This time our combination is good and emerging players are also exciting product and we will enjoy every moment of the season,” Qalandars captain Shaheen Afridi said.
Before the game an opening ceremony has also been planned which will begin at 7pm. The opening ceremony will feature exciting performances from famous singer Abida Parveen and the Young Stunners. The singers of the PSL 10 anthem Abrar-ul-Haq, Ali Zafar, Natasha Baig and Talha Anjum will also perform on the occasion.
The six-team event was launched in 2016 with Islamabad United winning the first title. In 2017 Peshawar Zalmi lifted the crown while in 2018 United reclaimed it. In 2019 Quetta Gladiators won it and the following year Karachi Kings won the crown. In 2021 Multan Sultans won the title under Rizwan and in the following two years title went to Qalandars. United, under Shadab Khan, reclaimed it following a few years of struggle since winning their second title in 2018.
Babar Azam is the undisputed front-runner in batting with an aggregate score of 3504 which he scored in 90 matches at an average of 45.50. He scored two centuries and 33 fifties. Fakhar Zaman stands second with 2525 runs in 84 matches which he amassed at an average of 30.42 which includes two centuries and 19 fifties.
Rizwan trails third with 2403 runs in 83 matches at an average of 41.43 which features one century and 20 fifties.
Wahab Riaz leads the bowling chart with 113 wickets in 88 matches while Hasan Ali follows him at the second spot with 108 in 82 matches and Shaheen Afridi with 103 which he picked in 71 matches. And it is highly expected that these two will displace Wahab Riaz from the pole position this season as the former lanky left-armer is playing cricket no more.
