Peshawar Zalmi’s head coach, Daren Sammy, expressed dissatisfaction with his team’s batting performance against Karachi Kings. He emphasized the importance of the batsmen taking more responsibility as a group.
We did not bat well today,” Sammy told a post-match news conference.
“It’s good Babar continues to do what he has been doing. Congratulations to Babar for achieving the fastest 10,000 T20 runs milestone. We just have to be more responsible as a batting group,” said Sammy, a former West Indies skipper.
Peshawar Zalmi lost their second consecutive match in PSL 9 to Karachi Kings by seven wickets at the Gaddafi Stadium on Wednesday. Babar Azam’s impressive 72 helped Zalmi reach 154, but Karachi Kings easily chased the target with 19 balls remaining, losing three wickets in the process.
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 says that the pitches here are normally good for batsmen. If you get six specialist batters and then all-rounder coming in and that is really what we want,” said Sammy when asked about his team’s batting depth.
Sammy said that 175 to 180 would have been par score on this track.
You know if you lose three wickets in the powerplay you lose 60 percent. At half way stage they had 80 when a partnership was built between Babar and Rovman Powell and we got ourselves to a very good position on that surface,” he said.
“Having said that over the last two games watching our batting, overs number 11 to 15, on both time, we got 38 runs while the opposition scored 56 in that period,” Sammy pointed out. “Such little moments of the game could affect the entire situation,” he said.
“I have been in this franchise for the last nine years. It’s not how you start but it’s how you finish. People say we have been the most consistent team. We need to win five or six games to get to the playoffs,” Sammy said.
Sammy expressed hope for a strong comeback from his team. He conveyed confidence in the dressing room and stated that they have eight matches ahead. He anticipated a positive conversation after the upcoming match on the 17th.
Regarding the question of whether Zalmi’s middle order needed reshuffling, Sammy pointed out the experience of players like Babar, Saim, and their strong performance as openers in the last PSL. Despite a good start in the first game, he acknowledged that Haris and Tom have faced challenges in scoring runs during the powerplay.
