The problem with the Islamabad franchise is that, they dont learn from their mistakes.
Up until Misbah was captaining this franchise, they won 2 out of 3 seasons just at the start. The best thing under Misbah was, once they realized their mistakes they would rectify it. In the first season they were bad in finishing games and thus they bough in andre russel. In the second innings, they lost few gem players, they bough in Haddin and Luke Ronchi. They took advantage of their 2nd season last place to grab the good players from the draft.
After that, when Shadab got the reigns from Rumman and Sami, he hasn't been able to emulate what Misbah has done. Funny thing is, even now, with Misbah not being associated with IU for 2 seasons, this team still plays the players that Misbah had chosen. Asif Ali, Waseem Jr, Shadab, Waqas Maqsood, and Faheem Ashraf are all the players that Misbah had chosen but in the past. You need to create your own team with the time being or as you move forward.
IU had a bad 5th season, that gave IU the first draft pick. In the 2021 PSL draft, Rashid Khan was the star player in the draft and for every team he was the guy to be picked. IU had first pick and LQ had second pick. Guess what Shadab did? Because Shadab is friends with Hasan Ali, he asked him to leave PZ and throw himself in the draft and IU would take him first, and thats what he did.
Shadab Khan convinced his franchise to pick Hasan Ali over Rashid Khan, Lahore than pounced on Rashid Khan. Wahab Riaz says he was angry and unhappy with Hassan Ali as there he would had done much better but maybe he felt in secure cause of him. He said that for national selection he (wahab) was never a threat or competitor for him. Hasan Ali could had learned much more under PZ.
So this is the thinking of Shadab Khan when it comes to drafting. He needs to start picking his own players now and not rely on Misbah's players. His selection should also be based on merit and not friendship.
Rehan ul haq and Hassan Cheema are very good with the approach of selecting foreign upper order batsmen as they perform better in PP as they are not playing for National selection compared to local players who play under pressure. But one thing I have learned is that foreign players are unpredictable. They can leave any time especially under covid.
Now the important thing is to learn from your mistakes. This franchise doesn't learn from its mistakes. In season 5, they lost because their main batsmen left. In season 6 they lost because their bowling were all pacers with no other spinner except for Shadab Khan and the pacers were those who were getting hit left and right.
Coming into season 7 you believe they will work on their mistakes, but they do not. Foreign players left, the batting got exposed. The bowling was the same with Hasan Ali, Faheem Ashraf and Waseem jr getting smacked. No quality spinner was selected and no other pacer was selected that could bowl in place of hasan ali and waseem jr.
If they really want to win another PSL, than its time to learn from mistakes. Instead of letting players go and doing gambles in the draft, time to do trade. Give out Hasan Ali or Waseem jr and geting some quality in return. Strategies the bowling where two spinners can be played not just one. Have a few 2-3 good local batter and for gods sake dont just fill your line up with boundary hitting batsmen. You also need Rizwan or Babar type batsmen in the team aswell.
Islamabad won 2 titles because Misbah was there when the boundaries weren't required. Yesterday malik batted it out and than started it smashing the ball. Today Hafeez also did the same where he batted it out, yes he got out but Wiese covered for him.
Shadab as a captain has been good, but he makes alot of mistakes. He dosent learn from the mistakes he makes and the franchise also is not learning.
Islamabad is becoming another Peshawar Zalmi. Both teams play cricket to just reach the play offs. But in play offs I have seen only that team enters the final and wins it that is actually a quality side. You cant win PSL play offs on flukes. Isb of season 1 and 3 have shown this, Multan of season 6 showed us this, and now Lahore of season 7 is showing us this along with Multan again.
If the team isn't fixed up, than we will keep on watching play off runs where they will end up bottling it up. Maybe bring back Misbah in the team management capacity. If you are gonna play 50% of his players than atleast bring him back to bring you new players.
So long Islamabad, another season ends with a heartbreak. Its been now 4 years since winning a PSL trophy. Each year when our trophy run ends we fans depart saying next year would hopefully be our year. Until than I will wait.
I also apologies to the franchise for doubting there move to bring Azam Khan for Ifitkhar Ahmad. I was proven wrong, and Azam khan has proven to be a very good and talented batsmen for the franchise. Not a good keeper however and that is a concern.
I love this team due to the brand of cricket it plays, its fighting till the end spirit which is similar to the Australian culture, plus this team was the one that placed its trust on Misbah ul Haq who build this team for the franchise.
So long Islamabad, you gave us 4 weeks of entertainment. I will again wait another whole year for you and will again support you when Pakpassion makes an Islamabad United PSL 8 thread :')