LAHORE: Peshawar Zalmi head coach Daren Sammy was not happy with the way his batsmen batted against Karachi Kings and stressed that they will have to be more responsible as a batting group.
“We didn’t play well today,” Sammy said at the post-match press conference.
“It is good that Babar is continuing what he has been doing. Congratulations to Babar for reaching the fastest milestone of 10,000 T20 runs. We need to be more responsible as a batting group,” said Sammy, the former West Indies captain.
Peshawar Zalmi lost their second match in a row in PSL 9 as they were hammered by Karachi Kings by a convincing margin of seven wickets at the Gaddafi Stadium on Wednesday.
Peshawar Zalmi posted 154 thanks to Babar Azam’s brilliant knock of 72. Karachi Kings chased down the target with 19 balls to spare as they lost three wickets.
“Normally on good pitches you need better bowling. During the last two years, PSL has been a high scoring league in terms of runs. So it is said that the pitches here are normally good for batsmen. If you get six specialty batsmen and then an all-rounder comes in and that’s really what we want,” Sammy said when asked about his team’s batting depth.
Sammy said 175 to 180 would be a par score on this course.
“You know, when you lose three goals in a power play, you lose 60 percent. They were 80 at the halfway mark when the partnership between Babar and Rovman Powell was built and we put ourselves in a very good position on that surface,” he said.
“Having said that, during the last two games, when we watched our batting, power bowlers number 11 to 15, both times, we scored 38 runs while the opposition scored 56 in that period,” Sammy pointed out. “Such small moments of the game can affect the whole situation,” he said.
“I have been with this franchise for the past nine years. It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. People say we’ve been the most consistent team. We need to win five or six games to make the playoffs,” Sammy said.
He hoped his charges would put up a fight. “I have full faith in the guys in the dressing room. We have eight games to play. I hope at 17 you will talk to me after the game,” he said.
Asked if he thought Zalmi’s middle order needed to be reshuffled, Sammy said, “Look, you have the experienced Babar, Saim and I think they were the best openers in the last PSL. Even in the first game they started very well. We were up on the power play and again Haris didn’t score and Tom didn’t score,” he said.
Sammy backs Zalmi to qualify for playoffs
