McCullum hails team’s fighting spirit
dubai — Lahore Qalandars captain Brendon McCullum was chuffed to see his team fight it out despite a measly total and said that the team spirit and camaraderie are the positives he will take from the thrilling loss to Peshawar Zalmi.
After being able to muster just 59 following an impressive bowling effort from Peshawar Zalmi, the Lahore Qalandars made a match of it, thanks to Yasir Shah.
The leg spinner scythed through the Peshawar Zalmi batting line-up to snap up four for seven in his four overs. West Indian off-spinner Sunil Narine too played an important part with two for 16 after Sohail Tanvir had taken one for four.
That left the Peshawar Zalmis on 51 for 7 before they got through with Chris Jordan and Wahab Riaz taking them home, their nine-run stand for the eighth wicket, worth its weight in gold.
“It didn’t feel like a 59-60 kind of pitch,” said McCullum.
“We wanted to keep attacking. Credit to the boys, they got stuck in defending such a low score. We’ve come together really well. The team spirit, camaraderie and an understanding of how we want to be playing is something you can’t fault. It was a good time to be out there and enjoy what was a tight game, but not necessarily the prettiest game to watch.
“It’s more of a mindset thing. You don’t anticipate when you get bowled out, but we were alive because of the positive mindset. You want to be aggressive and dictate play. Results at the end of the tournament will judge if we’re successful or not, but for now, I’m very happy,” the former New Zealand captain added. Meanwhile, Peshawar Zalmi captain Darren Sammy admitted that they made a mess of the total and heaved a sigh of relief after coming through in the end.
“After a bowling performance like that, we thought we’ll have a good day with bat and ball. We got 10 wickets, so we knew they could, too. But we are happy to have got the win,” said Sammy.
“We made a mess of a small total and I don’t think the coach would be too happy. We hope to put in a better batting performance,” the West Indian added.
james@khaleejtimes.com