Islamabad United defeated Lahore Qalandars by a commanding eight wickets in the season opener at Rawalpindi on April 11 to start their Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2025 campaign started on a high note.
After winning the toss, United chose to field first, and they successfully carried out their strategy, dominating the Qalandars’ hitters right away. In the second over, Fakhar Zaman was dismissed by Riley Meredith for just one. Soon after, Lahore was struggling at 30 for 2 as Mohammad Naeem stole a point from Jason Holder.
Nonetheless, Abdullah Shafique resisted some of the early collapse. Around him, wickets were falling, and he clutched one end. However, Imad Wasim and captain Shadab Khan quickly got rid of Sam Billings and Daryl Mitchell, and by the ninth over, the scoreline read 58 for 4.
Sikandar Raza provided some support for Shafique, and the two stitched a 35-run stand, but the victory was short-lived. After removing Jahandad Khan and then cleaning up David Wiese, United’s pacer Holder came back and scored thrice in two balls. Later, after a stellar spell of 4 for 26, he took out Shaheen Afridi. Following Shafique’s 66 off 38 to claim the ninth wicket, Shadab finished by getting rid of Haris Rauf. 139 runs were bowled out of the Qalandars in 19.2 overs.
The Islamabad United-based team began carefully chasing 140 on a surface that wasn’t ideal for batting.
Colin Munro and Sahibzada Farhan stabilised the ship after Andries Gous fell prematurely due to a sharp Asif Afridi delivery. Before succumbing to Haris Rauf, Farhan made the most of the bad balls, clearing the ropes three times in his 25 off of 24 balls.
The anchor role was played by Munro, who paces his innings superbly and hits Jahandad Khan to the ground. Together with Salman Agha, the two eliminated Lahore from the game. Wiese effectively flipped the match in his 12th over, which gave up 17 runs.
In addition, Agha played a vital hand, remaining undefeated at 41 off 34 balls. After United reached 143/2 in 17.4 overs, the right-hand batter lofted Jahandad over extra cover to neatly seal the victory.
India
