PSL 2023 TEAM GUIDE: There is plenty of depth in the Islamabad United ranks, despite the absence of some key players for parts of the tournament. However, how the selectors bolt together an XI is an intriguing conundrum, writes SAM MORSHEAD
Coach: Azhar Mahmood
He won the PSL with Islamabad United as a player in the competition's first season, then returned six years later to become head coach. Mahmood is a popular figure almost everywhere he goes, with players raving about his intelligent, observant and personable coaching style. He will be hoping it rubs off a little more on his Islamabad players this season, after leading them to four wins from 10 last time around.
Captain: Shadab Khan
A Pakistani pin-up, Shadab is among the finest white-ball players of his generation. A genuine middle-order batsman and gamechanger with the ball, he has been the Islamabad United skipper on a full-time basis since PSL5, when he took over from Mohammad Sami. He was at the time the youngest ever PSL captain. He is still only 24 but has a wealth of experience in all forms of the game, and as such is a very natural fit as leader.
Overseas stars
Colin Munro: Islamabad United will be delighted to have the Kiwi back in their ranks, after he dazzled in three cameos for the franchise last season, smashing 165 runs with two half-centuries at a strike rate of 141. Munro is also left-handed, which is critical to Islamabad's incredibly right-hander-heavy top order.
Alex Hales: A fine winter for the Englishman, who won the T20 World Cup on his return to the national side and has gone well in franchise cricket - 245 runs (average 31, strike rate 142) in the Big Bash preceded a blistering ILT20 campaign (468 runs, average 52, strike rate 152). Having plumped for a PSL campaign instead of a trip to Bangladesh with England, he will lead the line for Islamabad United throughout. A season like last year, where his 355 runs made him the highest scoring overseas player in the PSL, would go down nicely.
Paul Stirling: Another top-order batting option - Islamabad have imported a lot of these - the Irishman may find his chances limited this PSL season. A tame ILT20 saw him score below 110, before he made the trip to South Africa for a solitary appearance for Paarl Royals. Of course, at his best he can be utterly destructive (as a career T20 strike rate of 142 can attest to), and he does offer a little something extra with his off-spin.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz: And here we go again. The Afghan powerhouse can be a sledgehammer at the top of the order, but is certainly not guaranteed a place in this lineup. Gurbaz clattered his runs at a strike rate above 180 in six PSL innings last year, and goes at 152 across his T20 career (which remarkably already includes 110 matches at the age of 21). He found the going tough at the ILT20, though, and has tried to rediscover form with Rangpur Riders in the Bangladesh Premier League. He is expected to miss a handful of early-season games.
Fazalhaq Farooqi: The Afghan seamer has been bowling well in short-form cricket this winter. An encouraging start with Sydney Thunder - five wickets and an economy rate of 5.7 from four appearances, was ended when his contract was cancelled for mysterious displinary reasons. He has since shown good form at the ILT20, with 12 wickets. An ability to control the flow of runs will be critical to Islamabad, who have in recent seasons found themselves somewhat leaky at times. Not available for the whole campaign, and that could be costly to his side.
Moeen Ali: The England allrounder is not available for much of the tournament, owing to his involvement in the ODI and T20I series in Bangladesh. When he is around, he offers Islamabad a left-handed floating middle-order option, incredibly effective against spin through the middle of an innings, an experienced head in the field, and a useful off-spin option, with the capacity to bowl in the powerplay. That's a pretty useful T20 combo.
Shadab Khan leads Islamabad United [Getty Images]
Tom Curran: An intriguing pick. Curran adds depth to the Islamabad United batting lineup, presuming he will slot in at No.7 when he does play. However, for a team which is naturally liable to give away large-ish scores, his record for keeping it tight is not phenomenal. A career T20 economy of 8.85 is bordering on expensive, and while he has variety in his arsenal, over recent months he seems to have been bowling more and more slower deliveries. Does that make him more predictable? Islamabad are banking on no.
Gus Atkinson: Atkinson has been a big winner from this franchise winter, having enjoyed stints in the T10 League and ILT20, where he reached the final with Desert Vipers. He is an all-round option, and is no strange to head coach Mahmood through their shared Surrey links. A partial replacement for Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Atkinson is certainly not a like-for-like swap. He is a tall, hit the pitch bowler just starting out in T20 cricket.
Tymal Mills: The experienced quick is a partial replacement for Hales, who will miss the start of the campaign. Whatever limited cricket Mills does play will at least provide Islamabad with a genuinely brilliant death bowler, capable of hitting his yorker on demand and in possession of a wicked slower ball. Mills has had an interrupted winter, having pulled out of the Big Bash. He only featured in one Desert Vipers game in the ILT20.
Rassie van der Dussen: A partial replacement for Moeen Ali, which is an odd selection to say the least, van der Dussen offers reliability at No.3 or No.4 and has the ability and temperament to carry an innings. In strict contrast to the helter-skelter, smack-em-first-and-say-sorry-later approach of the rest of Islamabad's hyper-aggressive batting unit. Another right-hander. Gosh, there are a lot of right-handers.
Changes from 2022
The backbone of this squad is largely the same - from coaching, domestic and overseas perspectives.
How did they do in 2022?
Islamabad United squeezed into the knockout stage, finishing fourth at the end of the round-robin part of the competition with just four wins. Their superior net run rate (albeit a negative net run rate) was enough to take them through ahead of Quetta Gladiators. They then lost their semi-final to eventual winners Lahore Qalandars by six runs.
Best finish: Winners (2016 & 2018)
Alex Hales is a big part of the Islamabad setup [Getty Images]
BATTING
Power hitters
Islamabad United might as well be called I Slam A Ball United. Their top order treat the powerplay with disdain and, as such, are capable of putting together big ol' scores. Take these PSL strike rates from last year: Gurbaz 181, Stirling 176, Shadab 162, Hales 147, Munro 141. That's a meaty start. Fitting all five into the top order is an equation the franchise are unlikely to try to tackle, as it would leave the bowling unit considerably exposed. So one or more of Gurbaz, Stirling, Hales and Munro will miss out each time.
It would be a surprise for Munro not to feature regularly, given his left-handedness makes him something of an island in a sea of right-handers. Hales arrives late, as does Gurbaz, so Stirling should be expected to begin the campaign. If he finds form quickly - and he has not been in his purplest of patches - then there could be some selection migraines in the Islamabad camp.
Keep an eye out for Hassan Nawaz, a combative opener who plays for Northern and has several Pakistani pundits and commentators purring. Sohaib Maqsood is another opening option.
Lower down the order, Asif Ali has a reputation for being capable of hitting the ball a long way from the second he arrives at the crease. The trouble being, this winter he's struggled to buy a score. A miserable run in the Big Bash, where he made one double-figure return in eight visits to the wicket, was his last competitive action.
Anchor
This is where van der Dussen's selection for Moeen Ali makes a little more sense. Compared with the rest of his Islamabad teammates, van der Dussen's approach to T20 batting is positively sedate. A career strike rate of 128 does not suggest a player who takes risks, but van der Dussen is able to accumulate while playing fairly conventionally. He was prominent in the recent SA20 for MI Cape Town, with 240-plus runs in the competition, but only struck at 122.
Finisher
Shadab is more than capable of bringing an innings home. He is likely to bat at No.5 in this lineup, and is fearless at the crease. Asif Ali has famous examples of turning games with the bat on his CV, but as discussed above, spending 15 minutes at the wicket would be a start at present. Curran, at No.7, and Faheem Ashraf, at No.8, are going to have to be ready to do plenty of work in the final five overs with both bat and ball in this tournament - expect Islamabad's batting lineup to go hard early, with all the risk associated.
Problem areas
Munro aside, when Moeen is not around, the whole top and middle order is right-handed. Asif Ali's form is a considerable worry.
Hassan Ali needs to have a good tournament [Getty Images]
BOWLING
Speed merchants
Much will depend on whether Hassan Ali hits a hot streak. Hassan was off-colour in 2022, claiming nine wickets at an average of 40 and going for more than 10 an over throughout the PSL. That has to change. He will receive support from the exciting Afghanistan quick Fazalhaq Farooqi, who has impressed across franchise competitions this winter. Farooqi is not available for the entire tournament, though, and in his absence the bowling attack does look a little samey.
Mills is a death option, and capable of hitting 90mph-plus regularly, but won't play every game. Curran has variety but does have a habit for leaking runs. Rumman Raees would give the lineup a much-needed left-arm option (what is it about Islamabad and right-handers?!), but he doesn't have any competitive gametime at elite level since the Lanka Premier League in August.
Mohammad Wasim was even more expensive than Hassan last season, going at more than 11 per over. He must do better.
Variation
The bespectacled Abrar Ahmed who broke onto the Test scene against England in December, enjoyed a good National T20 Cup campaign, claiming 10 wickets for Sindh with a respectable economy of 7.35. Zafar Gohar is the left-armer in the ranks but hasn't played a T20 game since last February.
Problem areas
There's plenty of depth in the Islamabad unit, but it is not immediately obvious that the combinations and variations are there for a successful tournament. Hassan Ali and Mohammad Wasim have to have considerably better tournaments than 2022, and the limited number of left-arm quicks - well, one - is an issue.
Who takes the gloves?
Gurbaz or Azam Khan, who could be an alternative to Asif Ali at No.6 to free up the option of playing Hales, Munro and Stirling.
Squad: Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Azam Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Colin Munro, Paul Stirling, Alex Hales, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Abrar Ahmed, Sohaib Maqsood, Rumman Raees, Zeeshan Zamir, Hassan Nawaz, Moeen Ali, Mubasir Khan, Tom Curran, Zafar Gohar, Gus Atkinson (partial replacement for Rahmanullah Gurbaz), Tymal Mills (partial replacement for Alex Hales), Rassie van der Dussen (partial replacement for Moeen Ali)
Possible starting XI: Alex Hales, Hassan Nawaz/Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Colin Munro, Rassie van der Dussen/Sohaib Maqsood/Azam Khan, Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Tom Curran/Fazalhaq Farooqi, Faheem Ashraf, Hassan Ali, Mohammad Wasim Jnr
Fixtures: Coming soon.