Islamabad United 143 for 2 (Munro 59*, Agha 41*) beat Lahore Qalandars 139 (Shafique 66, Holder 4-26, Shadab 3-25) by eight wickets
Islamabad United got their title defence off to a robust start, brushing aside Lahore Qalandars by eight wickets in the PSL 2025 opener. An all-round performance included starring roles with the ball from Jason Holder, who took 4 for 26, and with the bat from Colin Munro, whose unbeaten 42-ball 59 guided United through the start of a potentially tricky chase. In the end, though, the holders made short work of a chase of 140, taking any jeopardy out of it long before the winning runs were struck with 14 balls still to go.
United won the toss and fielded first, starting tidily against Fakhar Zaman, whom they cramped with the short ball. Riley Meredith got rid of the veteran opener when he failed to get on top of a hook, and Qalandars struggled to get going on a pitch that didn't allow run-scoring as freely as the Rawalpindi Stadium has in the past. Naseem Shah went for 17 in Qalandars' third over, when Abdullah Shafique targeted him, but spinners Imad Wasim and Shadab Khan struck back quickly with a double-blow, sending Daryl Mitchell and Sam Billings on their way.
Shafique looked elegant from one end, timing the ball beautifully against pace and using his feet against the spinners. He was the only one able to take Imad on, highlighted by a lofted six straight back over the bowler's head. Time and again, he attempted to break the shackles, but wickets at the other end made it impossible.
Sikandar Raza and Shafique struck up a breezy 35-run partnership, but three wickets for two runs derailed Qalandars. Holder, whose variations had proved difficult to handle early on, took two of them, dismissing Jahandad Khan and knocking back David Wiese's stumps off successive balls, and followed up by ensnaring Shaheen Shah Afridi. Shafique's resistance finally ended when he became the ninth man out, for 66 off 38, before Shadab's third wicket wrapped the innings up with four balls to spare.
United didn't get off to the whirlwind start they have developed a reputation for in these circumstances, though that was perhaps more down to the trickiness of the surface than the skill of the Qalandars bowlers. Shaheen couldn't find early swing, and it was 38-year-old left-arm orthodox spinner Asif Afridi who tested the batters most. He sent Andries Gous off in his first over and kept United on a leash, allowing just eight in his three overs in the powerplay.
But United had time to fend off Qalandars' early intensity, and gradually, Sahibzada Farhan and Munro began to grow into the chase. Farhan struggled with his timing but managed to punish enough poor deliveries to smoke three sixes in his 24-ball 25, while Munro kept picking off United's bowlers from the other end. A slap down the ground off Jahandad's first ball set him on his way, and once Salman Agha got together with him, they began to break Qalandars down. A wayward 12th over from Wiese produced 17 runs that brought the asking rate down to about a run a ball, and from there, Qalandars lost the leverage to exert any pressure on their opponents. Agha played a characteristically useful knock, a slap over mid-off against Haris Rauf immediately following Wiese's over and cementing his side's dominance.
Another boundary, followed by Munro slapping Shaheen for an inside-out six, saw United power home with momentum on their side, and when Jahandad was carved over extra-cover by Agha, United made official the victory they had been cantering to for some time.
