PSL: Babar Azam, who scored 42 off 36 balls,was criticial of his performance.© AFP
Star batter Babar Azam expressed disappointment after Peshawar Zalmi failed to reach the final of the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL). Lahore Qalandars made it to the final of the PSL for the third time in the last four years, after beating the Babar-led Zalmi by four wickets at the Gaddafi Stadium on Friday. Despite enjoying a good season with the bat, Babar, who scored 42 off 36 balls, was criticial of his performance, saying that his form wasn’t enough to take his team to the final.
“It was a good journey, but unfortunately, we couldn’t finish. We didn’t perform as well as we should have but made a comeback in the second half, and everyone tried to learn and gave their 100 percent. Happy with the form but disappointed that it didn’t help the team win. I will look back and see what I can do better,” Cricket Pakistan quoted Babar as saying after the match.
Babar, however, was impressed with youngsters Mohammad Haris and Saim Ayub, but advised the batters to play in different situations and build their game.
“We sent Mohammad Haris to open, but then we changed our planning against Lahore and went with a left-right combination (Babar-Saim) given how Shaheen gives a tough time to right-handers, and that is why we changed our combination a little bit, and Haris responded positively to the shuffle in the batting line-up, and this is what we are trying to inculcate in our players which is to perform in different scenarios and play according to the match situation, and I think our youngsters have developed this trait in themselves in this tournament,” he added.
In a repeat of last year’s final, Lahore Qalandars will face Multan Sultans in the summit clash on Satuday, March 18.
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