Islamabad United
The coronavirus pandemic suspended the sixth season of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) in March at the end of the first 14 games of the league stage. Seven members of the tournament bubble, six of which were players, had tested positive. Three months hence, PSL 2021 is all et to resume from Wednesday onwards in Abu Dhabi with Lahore Qalandars taking on Islamabad United in the first match.
PSL conducted two replacement drafts to get the teams filled for the second leg of the tournament after several overseas players opted out owing to reasons aplenty. Ahead of the resumption of the league, we take a look at how the teams stacked up.
How does the point table look?
Defending champions Karachi Kings stand atop with six points from five games - three wins and two defeats. Interestingly, the three next teams on the points table have accumulated as many points as Karachi Kings, but only separated by net run-rate.
2017 champions Peshawar Zalmi stand second with NRR of 0.73, having won and lost as many games as Karachi. Islamabad United, the 2016 and 2018 champions, stand third with NRR of 0.202, although their three wins came in four games. Lahore Qalandars, who as well have played four games with three games, have an NRR of 0.085.
Multan Sultans and 2019 champions Quetta Gladiators have both managed a win each from five games, separted only by NRR.
Most runs and wickets:
Multan Sultans skipper Mohammad Rizwan stands atop in the run-getters list with 297 runs at 59.40, at a strike rate of 140.09, which includes three half-centuries. Karachi Kings skipper Babar Azam stands second with 258 runs at 138.71.
Zalmi’s fast bowler Saqib Mehmood is presently the highest wicket-taker at the end of the Karachi-leg of PSL 2021, having picked 12 wickets in five games at 12.80. Qalandars’ left-armer Shaheen Shah Afridi stands next with nine wickets at 12.55 while Sultans’ pacer Shahnawaz Dhani have left many impressed with his tally of nine wickets in four games 17.22.
Teams after the replacement draft:
Islamabad United -
OUT: Alex Hales, Lewis Gregory, Phil Salt
IN: Usman Khawaja
FULL SQUAD: Shadab Khan (c), Ahmed Saifi Abdullah, Ali Khan, Akif Javed, Asif Ali, Brendon King, Colin Munro, Fawad Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Hussain Talat, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Mohammad Akhlaq, Musa Khan, Rohail Nazir, Umer Amin, Usman Khawaja, Zafar Gohar and Zeeshan Zameer
Karachi Kings -
OUT: Colin Ingram, Mohammad Nabi, Dan Christian, Joe Clarke
IN: Martin Guptill, Najeebullah Zadran, Thisara Perera
FULL SQUAD: Imad Wasim (c), Abbas Afridi, Amir Yamin, Arshad Iqbal, Babar Azam, Chadwick Walton, Danish Aziz, Martin Guptill, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Ilyas, Mohammad Haris, Thisara Perera, Najeebullah Zadran, Noor Ahmed, Qasim Akram, Sharjeel Khan, Waqas Maqsood and Zeeshan Malik
Lahore Qalandars -
OUT: David Wiese, Joe Denly, Tom Abell, Samit Patel
IN: James Faulkner, Tim David, Callum Ferguson, Seekuge Prasanna
FULL SQUAD: Sohail Akhtar (c), Ahmed Danyal, Ben Dunk, Callum Ferguson, Dilbar Hussain, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, James Faulkner, Maaz Khan, Mohammad Faizan, Mohammad Hafeez, Rashid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Seekuge Prasanna, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sultan Ahmed, Tim David, Zaid Alam and Zeeshan Ashraf
Multan Sultans -
OUT: Chris Lynn, James Vince, Adam Lyth, Carlos Brathwaite
IN: Shimron Hetmyer, Johnson Charles, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Obed McCoy
FULL SQUAD: Mohammad Rizwan (c), Asif Afridi, Hammad Azam, Imran Tahir, Imran Khan Snr, Johnson Charles, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Umar, Obed McCoy, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rilee Rossouw, Shahnawaz Dhani, Shan Masood, Shimron Hetmyer (partially available), Sohaib Maqsood, Sohaibullah, Sohail Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Usman Qadir and Muhammad Waseem
Peshawar Zalmi -
OUT: Mujeeb ur Rahman, Liam Livingstone, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Ravi Bopara, Saqib Mahmood
IN: Fabian Allen, Rovman Powell, Fidel Edwards
FULL SQUAD: Wahab Riaz (c), Abrar Ahmed, Amad Butt, Bismillah Khan, David Miller (partially available), Fabian Allen (partially available), Fidel Edwards (partially available), Haider Ali, Hazratullah Zazai, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Amir Khan, Mohammad Irfan Snr, Mohammad Imran, Mohammad Imran Randhawa, Rovman Powell, Waqar Salamkheil, Sherfane Rutherford, Shoaib Malik, and Umaid Asif
Quetta Gladiators -
OUT: Tom Banton, Dale Steyn, Ben Cutting
IN: Andre Russell, Jack Wildermuth, Jake Weatherald, Zahir Khan
FULL SQUAD: Sarfaraz Ahmed (c), Abdul Nasir, Andre Russell (partially available), Anwar Ali, Arish Ali Khan, Azam Khan, Cameron Delport, Faf du Plessis, Hassan Khan, Jack Wildermuth, Jake Weatherald, Khurram Shehzad, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Usman Khan, Usman Shinwari, Zahid Mahmood and Zahir Khan
