Back to the drawing board for Quetta Gladiators
sharjah — Quetta Gladiators captain Sarfraz Ahmed said that it would be back to the drawing board for the two-time runners-up of the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) and added that they will have to work and improve on their batting.
In what was a repeat of last year’s final, the Quetta Gladiators went down in a thriller against Peshawar Zalmi at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, late on Thursday night.
The Quetta Gladiators have two wins and two losses from four fixtures. They had begun the six-team competition with a defeat against the Karachi Kings before notching their first win against the Lahore Qalandars, in Dubai.
Quetta followed that up with a victory over Islamabad United in Sharjah before being undone by Peshawar Zalmi captain Darren Sammy’s heroics, the other night.
And Sarfraz felt that some big innings were needed from their top order if they are to make it to the business end of the tournament.
“We have played four matches, won two and lost two. So, we will sit down and analyse things and see what would be our best possible
We will sit down and analyse things and see what would be our best possible playing XI Sarfraz Ahmed, Quetta captain
playing XI,” said Sarfraz Ahmed.
“I think batting is an area which we will have to work on a bit more. We will have to work really hard on it. We have already played four matches and we haven’t had that big innings to give us that impetus. There have been those 50s, and 40s but we have not yet had a big innings. But I do hope that we will have some big knocks from our top order, in the coming matches,” added the Pakistan captain.
Sarfraz, who led Pakistan to the ICC Champions Trophy title after defeating arch-rivals India, said that it was disappointing to lose to Peshawar Zalmi but took heart from the spirited fightback that his team came up with.
“It is a bit disappointing but I would like to give credit to the team for the way they fought back. The match had almost gone out of our hands. But the way in which our bowlers, especially the fast bowlers John Hastings and Shane Watson, made us come back into the game, was fantastic. We came really close to winning but I guess because of two or three bad balls, we lost the match,” he said. “The way my team came back, it is a positive sign and shows the fighting qualities of this team,” Sarfraz added.
Sarfraz also felt that the quality of bowling across the teams, had gone up a notch due to which the batsmen were unable to have a go at it.
“I feel that the quality of bowling has improved. Yes, the pitch is slow but if you see throughout the tournament, the bowling has been good and because of that, the batsmen are not getting enough opportunities to score freely,” Sarfraz said. He also backed his pacer Anwar Ali, who went for 37 runs in four overs and leaked runs at the death.
“You trust your main bowler because you have played with him for a long time. There is some concern. He has been training well, practicing well, and I felt he would do well. But sometimes, you do have some bad days. I hope that he will do well in the coming games and make a good comeback,” said the 30-year-old.
The Quetta Gladiators take on the Multan Sultans at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Saturday.