Naeem Khan Niazi
LAHORE, Mar 8 (APP):Lahore Qalandars all-rounder Samit Patel has said that Qalandars would go strong against Karachi Kings but they had great respect for the Kings ability.
“Unlike the media reports, Lahore Qalandars are a very well gelled team who have their eyes set on qualifying for the play-offs”, he stressed while talking to mediamen in a post-match press conference after Lahore Qalandars and Quetta Gladiators match at the Gaddafi stadium.
Lahore Qalandars defeated Quetta Gladiators by 8 wickets in a match during which spinners bamboozled the batsmen on a spin-friendly pitch.
He said the Qalandars were taking one game at a time and every new day
posed a different challenge.
To a question, “I have never seen a wicket like this offer so much spin in a T20 match
but once you come across such a track you try to take as many wickets as possible
and this is what I did”.
Quetta Gladiators fast bowler, Sohail Khan, in the post-match press conference, accepted that Gladiators’ strategy to post 200 runs on the board was the reason behind so many early wickets, adding that no batsman tried to judge nature of the pitch as it helped the spinners and was not conducive to stroke-play in the early part of the match.
About losing too many games as defending champions, the fast bowler said hectic
traveling schedule was a stumbling block in team’s performance, adding the pitch
in Lahore was very much like spin-friendly wickets in Karachi but they could not
deal with the challenge.
About his batting performance, he said he played as an opener for his club team,
adding that it was important to be an all-rounder to be more useful for the team in
competitive T20 cricket.
Sohail Khan also rued absence of Umer Akmal which had hurt team’s performance
in the HBL PSL V.
Sohail Khan said they would come back strong in the last two matches, adding that
Quetta Gladiators were not out of the tournament as they were yet to play two
more matches.