Mabhunu stays positive
BLESSING MUZARABANI is taking his latest excursion at the Pakistan Super League like a real champ.
The Zimbabwe international did not have the most fruitful of trips to the sub-continent.
While his franchise Multan Sultan did recall the Zimbabwe seamer and actually made it all the way to the final, albeit on a losing cause, Muzarabani failed to make the impact he would have ordinarily targeted.
Of the 12 games that the Southern Punjabi franchise played, Muzarabani took part in only four.
As a result, the 25-year-old finished the tournament on the lower end of the bowling charts with just a paltry five wickets and a best of three for 18 from the four innings.
He was also forced to watch the final from the stands as Lahore Qalandars clinched the 2021/22 PSL title courtesy of a 42-run victory.
Ever the consummate professional, Muzarabani has, however, opted to look on the brighter side and be thankful for the opportunity to learn rather than dwell on what could have been.
The lanky seamer started it off with an Instagram post on which he wrote: “Thank you @multansultans for the great opportunity. It was a good experience. I enjoyed the tournament’’.
He has since gone on to expand on both the tournament and missing out on the final.
“Watching from the outside is not easy for any cricketer but I decided to just enjoy the show rather than dwell on missing out,” said “Mabhunu”, as he is popularly called in cricket circles.
“There was a lot of talent in the team, and I just sat outside and tried to learn as much as I can and enjoy the cricket on display.
“Everyone can’t play every game all the time, the coaches have to pick 11 players.
“When the 11 are picked and you miss out, there is no need for someone not playing to be angry.
“That is cricket for you”.
The good thing is that Muzarabani can take solace from the fact that his team did actually make it to the final, despite eventually losing in the decider.
Multan Sultan took to the field of last weekend’s Pakistan Super League Final as defending champions.
There, they faced a Lahore Qalanders side with a lot more to prove at Gaddafi Stadium.
Set a target of 181- thanks largely to Mohammed Hafeez’s 69 and David Wiese’s 28 off eight balls- the defending champions were skittled out for 138 in reply.
The new champions dominated proceedings with both bat and ball, as Shaheen Afridi’s three for 30 and two wickets apiece from Hafeez and Zaman Khan complemented the Qalandars’ batting effort.
It was a masterclass performance from the new champions, and Muzarabani had a front-row seat for all of it.
“In cricket, we all have our good days and our bad days and on that day I think Lahore (Qalandars) played really well,” said Muzarabani.
“They bowled very well and got those early wickets.
“They also batted better with those big partnerships.
“Losing is never good, but that is cricket for you.
“You win some and you lose some. It was just unfortunate that our loss came in the final,” he said.
Muzarabani is likely to turn his attention to international cricket now, especially with some tricky ICC Super League fixtures on the horizon.
Zimbabwe currently lie in 11th place on the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League table with 35 points from 12 matches.
It serves as part of the 2023 Cricket World Cup qualification process, with hosts India and the top seven sides after completion qualifying automatically.