Islamabad United in 2017

The Islamabad United is a franchise cricket team that represents Islamabad in the Pakistan Super League. They were one of the five teams that had a competition in the 2017 Pakistan Super League. The team was captained by Misbah ul Haq and coached by Dean Jones. Team finished fourth after group stage fixtures, winning four matches from their eight matches in the PSL 2017. They got eliminated in the eliminator 1 by Karachi Kings, chasing a low total.

Islamabad United

2017 season
Coach	Dean Jones
Captain	Misbah ul Haq
PSL 2017	Eliminator
Most runs	Dwayne Smith (274)
Most wickets	Rumman Raees (12)
2018 →

Squad

In the 2017 Pakistan Super League players draft United retained 17 players from their previous squad. The team picked Ben Duckett, Zohaib Khan and Shadab Khan to complete their 20 men squad.[1] Later Steven Finn replaced Andre Russell after he was banned for a year for doping breach.[2] Ben Duckett was replaced by Nicholas Pooran after Duckett left the squad before the start of play-offs due to national duties.[3]

Name	Nat.	Batting Style	Bowling Style	Joined	Notes
Batsmen
Sharjeel Khan		Left-hand	Right-arm leg spin	2016
Misbah-ul-Haq		Right-hand	—	2016	Captain
Khalid Latif		Right-hand	Right-arm off Spin	2016
Hussain Talat		Left-hand	Right arm medium	2016
Rafatullah Mohmand		Right-hand	Slow left-arm orthodox	2017
Ben Duckett		Left-hand	Right-arm offbreak	2017	Overseas
Asif Ali		Right-hand	Right-arm Medium-Fast	2016
All-Rounders
Shane Watson		Right-hand	Right arm fast medium	2016	First overseas player picked in PSL[4]
Shadab Khan		Right-hand	Right-arm Leg-break	2017
Imran Khalid		Left-hand	Left arm orthodox spin	2016
Dwayne Smith		Right-hand	Right-arm Medium	2016	Overseas
Zohaib Khan		Right-hand	Slow Left-arm Orthodox	2017
Wicket-keepers
Sam Billings		Right-hand	—	2016	Overseas
Nicholas Pooran		Left-hand	—	2017	Overseas
Brad Haddin		Right-hand	—	2016	Overseas
Bowlers
Saeed Ajmal		Right-hand	Right arm off Spin	2016
Mohammad Irfan		Right-hand	Left arm fast	2016
Mohammad Sami		Right-hand	Right arm fast	2016
Samuel Badree		Right-hand	Right arm leg spin	2016	Overseas
Amad Butt		Right-hand	Right arm fast	2016
Steven Finn		Right-hand	Right arm Fast	2017	Overseas
Rumman Raees		Right-hand	Left arm medium fast	2016

Pakistan super League

Islamabad United played the inaugural game of the 2017 season against Peshawar Zalmi, which they managed to win by 7 wickets and thus continuing their winning streak from last season.[5] In the following game, however, they lost to Lahore Qalandars by 6 wickets after posting 158 on the board. Misbah top-scored for United through his unbeaten innings of 61 off 36 balls that included 5 sixes.[6]

As the tournament shifted to Sharjah, United continued to rebuild their campaign by handing Quetta Gladiators their first loss of the season. Chasing 149, they managed to do so at a loss of 5 wickets with 5-balls to spare. Sam Billings was the top-scorer with his aggressive knock of 78 from 50 balls.[7] But in the following game against table-bottoms, Karachi Kings, United lost by 8-runs through the Duckworth-Lewis method. This came about after they posted 90 runs in their allotted 13 overs in a rain-marred game that was abandoned after 9.4 overs in the second innings.[8] However, continuing on, United won a thrilling last-ball win against Peshawar Zalmi. Dwayne Smith was instrumental in his team's chase of 137 runs as he scored 72 off 59 balls after United's bowlers had earlier restricted the opposition to a below-par score.[9] Following this victory, however, the team lost to Lahore Qalandars by 1 wicket in a tense game. Batting first, United had difficulties in building their innings and were at one time 83-6. But the team's emerging player, Shadab Khan, scored 42 off 24 balls to get United to a respectable total of 145 which almost proved match-winning.[10]

With the tournament moving back to Dubai, United registered a thrilling win against Quetta Gladiators. After putting up a total of 166, the team was staring at almost certain defeat after the Gladiators were 148 for the loss of just one wicket at the 16th over. However, after a flurry of wickets and the inability of the opposition batsmen to finish the game, United prevailed by 1 run. This win also ensured the team of a play-off spot.[11]

Season standings

Islamabad United finished fourth in the points table of 2017 Pakistan Super League.

Team	P	W	L	T	NR	Pts	NRR
‹See Tfd›Peshawar Zalmi	8	4	3	0	1	9	+0.309
‹See Tfd›Quetta Gladiators	8	4	3	0	1	9	+0.166
‹See Tfd›Karachi Kings	8	4	4	0	0	8	-0.098
‹See Tfd›Islamabad United	8	4	4	0	0	8	-0.139
‹See Tfd›Lahore Qalandars	8	3	5	0	0	6	-0.223

As of 26 February 2017

• Source: CricInfo[12]
• The top 4 teams qualified for the playoffs
•      Advanced to Qualifier 1
•      Advanced to Eliminator

See also

• Peshawar Zalmi in 2017
• Quetta Gladiators in 2017
• Karachi Kings in 2017
• Lahore Qalandars in 2017

References

1. The News Tribe, 2016-10-20. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
2. http://www.dawn.com/news/1312048/steven-finn-to-replace-andre-russell-in-islamabad-united-squad
3. "Pooran replaces Ben Duckett ahead of play-offs". (Green team 92). Archived from the original on 27 February 2017. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
4. "PSL T20 2016 draft". Cricket Country. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
5. "Haddin, Smith fifties key in Islamabad win". ESPN Cricinfo.
6. "Elliott, Roy star in Lahore's first win". ESPN Cricinfo.
7. "Blistering Billings gives Islamabad much-needed boost". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
8. "Babar, spinners put Karachi on board". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
9. "Bowlers, Smith haul Islamabad to last-ball win". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
10. "Elliott six seals nerve-wracking one-wicket win for Lahore". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
11. "Islamabad secure playoff spot after late Quetta stumble". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
12. "PSL 2017 Points table" (ESPN). Retrieved 19 February 2017.