Team roles or execution, where are Islamabad United faltering?

At the start of the tournament, Islamabad United named Mohammad Sami as their captain. He looked fitter than he has for a considerable period of time. Faheem Ashraf came in as the number one T20 pace bowler of the world, and quite a successful series in South Africa. While, Shadab Khan was standard bearer of what United stood for, identifying young players, preparing them with stats based solutions and give them responsibility.

Yet yesterday, none of the trio finished their quota of overs. Shadab Khan has had a tough time at it and United coaches have not been able to put a finger on the problem. Sami has been injured and in and out of the side, yet bowling 2 overs for 15 as a specialist bowler is far from ideal  (unless of course the injury hampered his bowling). While, Faheem had gone for runs in the last game, his effectiveness at the back end of an innings is unquestionable. Yet he bowled only 3 overs, in an innings, where Quetta reached 180.

Was that a tactical error or United’s options allow them this liberty?  It is perhaps a bit of both. Having this many options with so much variety allows United to ring in the changes but in searching for the right option, for the pitch they can also give away too many runs. With Samit Patel and Shadab Khan not being a consistent enough wicket taking threat, teams have been taking chances against their pacers too.

Injuries and lack of a settled combination is hurting Untied this year. They might be better going in with less of an all-round side and pick a couple of specialist. It would put the onus of them to deliver rather then hoping the next one does the job for him.