Islamabad United VS Lahore Qalandar-Match 1-Dubai:Islamabad United VS Lahore Qalandar
-Match 1-Dubai 2019 Pakistan Super League will provide a series of firsts for supporters. In the fourth
season of the Twenty20 league, which starts in Dubai in February, AB de Villiers will be making his
tournament debut.
Abu Dhabi will host PSL matches for the first time – four in two days – while supporters based back in
Pakistan will now get to see regular league season games.
Where finals matches have been played in Lahore and Karachi in the past two seasons, now
the franchises representing those two cities will get to play in front of home faithful.
That means long-suffering Lahore Qalandars supporters will – assuming he agrees to make the trip –
get to see new signing De Villiers in the flesh.
Islamabad United
Islamabad United won the Pakistan Super League title in 2018. Satish Kumar for The National.
The defending champions are the most successful side in the three-year history of the PSL, having won the first tournament in 2015, as well as last year. They have an overall win percentage of 61.
Captain: Luke Ronchi (New Zealand)
Pick of their Pakistanis: Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Asif Ali
Overseas stars: Samit Patel (England), Ian Bell (England), Zahir Khan (Afghanistan).
Lahore Qalandars
Lahore Qalandars is a Pakistani professional cricket franchise which plays in the Pakistan Super League.
The home ground of the team is Gaddafi Stadium. It nominally represents the city of Lahore in the league.
The team is owned by Qatar Lubricants Company Limited.
Pakistan opener Fakhar Zaman will be one of the batting mainstays for Lahore Qalandars. Chris Whiteoak /
The National
Historically the worst-performing franchise, with a meagre win rate of just 35 per cent. But Qalandars did add some silverware to their bare trophy cabinet by winning the Abu Dhabi T20 this year.
Captain: Mohammed Hafeez
Pick of their Pakistanis: Fakhar Zaman, Shaheen Afridi, Yasir Shah
Overseas stars: Sandeep Lamichanne (Nepal), AB de Villiers (South Africa), Corey Anderson (New Zealand).
