Bowlers set up Rawalpindiz' first win of the season

After eight consecutive Ls, Mohammad Rizwan's Rawalpindiz avoided the ignominy of making that nine and opening themselves up to the possibility of a season full of defeats. They instead broke this freefall by downing one of the top-half dwellers Islamabad United.

Mohammad Amir, Naseem Shah and Saad Masood made the first move towards securing the team's maiden points of the season as they reduced Islamabad to 30/3 in the seventh over. Devon Conway and Mark Chapman attempted to put a few runs together through the middle, but that effort was gatecrashed by Daryl Mitchell, who dismissed the former in the 12th over. Chapman fell in the 13th to Asif Afridi and Islamabad were tottering at 79/5.

That soon became 99/7 in the 17th over. Chris Green then laid into Mitchell in the 18th over for 18 runs but Amir wrapped up his stellar spell with 2/21. Nine runs came off the 20th over but Islamabad were also bowled out, for a paltry 137.

A dreadful sense of deja vu would've gripped the Rawalpindiz dugout as opener Abdullah Fazal fell on the first ball of the chase. But Rizwan and Kamran Ghulam quickly got going to maximise the Powerplay, pushing the chasing side to 49/1 in 6 overs. The fours and sixes kept coming for both the batters until Green ended the 78-run partnership in the 10th over, taking out Ghulam for 42.

There was a stumble in the middle phase, as Rizwan and Sam Billings fell in quick succession. But Mitchell ensured that was merely a blip and not the starting point of another collapse. Mitchell and Dian Forrester added 41 off just 22 deliveries to cap off the victory in the 19th over.

Islamabad United 137 in 20 overs (Devon Conway 40, Chris Green 29; Mohammad Amir 2-21, Dian Forrester 2-9, Saad Masood 2-27) lost to Rawalpindiz 140/4 in 18.1 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 45, Kamran Ghulam 42, Daryl Mitchell 32*) by 6 wickets