Eliminator 2: Islamabad United take on Peshawar Zalmi

The Eliminator-2 in the fourth edition of the Pakistan Super League is being played on Friday night at the National Stadium, Karachi between Peshawar Zalmi and Islamabad United.

The deciding match starts today (Friday) at 7 p.m. The winning team will qualify for the series' grand finale to be held on March 17, Sunday, and will compete against Quetta Gladiators in a bid to bring trophy home.

Peshawar Zalmi are the losers of the Qualifier while Islamabad United are the winners of the Eliminator-1.

This is the penultimate match before the final of the PSL-4 and also the replay of the final of the PSL-3 where the same teams clashed with each other.

However, Islamabad won that final to become the PSL champions for second time and now they are eyeing for their third title.

Peshawar lost that final to finish the runners-up whereas they earlier held the title in the second edition (2017).

Both teams also contested with each other twice in the fourth edition of PSL. First at Sharjah on February 22, Islamabad emerged victorious by 12 runs and later at Dubai on March 1, Peshawar won by four wickets.

However, Peshawar Zalmi has topped the points table with 14 points while Islamabad holds the third spot with eight points.

The highest total by Islamabad United in PSL-4 is 238/3. They made it against Lahore Qalandars at Karachi on March 9. This is also the highest total by any team in PSL-4.

The highest total made by Peshawar Zalmi is 203/7, which they scored against Karachi Kings at Karachi on March 11.

The highest run-scorer for Islamabad United is Luke Ronchi, who has made 302 runs at an average of 30.20 with three fifties in 11 matches whereas Imam-ul-Haq has scored the most runs for Peshawar Zalmi. He accumulated 280 runs at an average of 28.00 with three half-centuries in 10 matches.

The highest wicet-taker for Peshawar Zalmi is seamer Hasan Ali, who has captured 22 wickets (ave 12.86) in 11 matches. He is also going on top of the list of highest wicket-takers in PSL-4. He has taken four wickets in an innings on three occasions, the most by any bowler in the tournament.

Hasan is followed by fast-medium bowler Faheem Ashraf of Islamabad United, who has claimed 21 wickets at an average of 13.52 in 11 matches. His best bowling performance is 6/19, which is also the best bowling figures so far by any bowler in the tournament. He has taken four or more wickets in two innings.

Squads

Islamabad United: Mohammad Sami (captain), Luke Ronchi, Sahibzada Farhan, Cameron Delport, Waqas Maqsood, Rizwan Hussain, Hussain Talat, Philip Salt, Asif Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Rizwan Hussain, Shadab Khan, SR Patel, Ian Bell, Muhammad Musa, Rumman Raees, WD Parnell.

Peshawar Zalmi: Darren Sammy (captain), Kamran Akmal, Imam-ul-Haq, Misbah-ul-Haq, Sohaib Maqsood, Kieran Pollard, Liam Dawson, Umar Amin, Wahab Riaz, Hasan Ali, Umaid Asif, Sameen Gul, Ibtisam Sheikh, DJ Malan, WL Madsen.