Morgan credits bowlers after match-winning blitz

Karachi skipper Sangakkara admits total was ‘too small’

England skipper Eoin Morgan stole the thunder on Friday night with a sparkling unbeaten 80 to steer Peshawar Zalmi to an impressive seven-wicket win over a starstudded Karachi Kings in the third match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) at the Dubai International stadium.

Though Morgan won the man of the match award for his batting performance, he lauded his bowlers for the victory. “Tonight as a whole we were excellent, we bounced back really well [after their first match defeat to Islamabad United],” he said.

Early breakthroughs

“I thought the tone was set by Hassan Ali and Mohammad Hafeez taking early wickets. They had a strong batting lineup and taking big scalps made huge inroads into their innings and that really gave this momentum. Taking four early wickets was awesome.

“I think it was tough at the start, but the last ten overs of our innings was easy to bat on.

“It was difficult at the start because two very good exponents were at us. Mohammad Amir is as good as anybody when it swings like that. Credit to our bowlers for setting the tone with early wickets. On a wicket like this, knowing how much to chase helped.”

Karachi skipper Kumar Sangakkara said it was a 170-run wicket. “We didn’t really bat well in the power play; that was the difference,” he added.

Karachi coach Mickey Arthur, too, said the batting let their

(Shoaib Malek 44, Ravi Bopara 33, Kevin Pollard 27n.o, Mohammad Hafeez 2 for 7, Wahab Riaz 2 for 23)

(Dawid Malan 22, Eoin Morgan 80n.o) Eoin Morgan. team down. “In Twenty20 game you’ve got to have one of your top four giving you a sixty or seventy and then the rest batting around that. We did not have that and we lost early wickets.”