LAHORE: Shan Masood, the current captain of Pakistan, and Babar Azam, the previous captain of the country, will face off against one other on Wednesday at the Gaddafi Stadium with the same goal in mind: getting their teams their first points in the ongoing HBL Pakistan Super League.
Sunday’s opening match saw Shan’s Karachi Kings lose to Multan Sultans, while Babar’s Peshawar Zalmi began with a loss to Quetta Gladiators.
Opening batsman Saim Ayb of Zalmi stated that his team would like to forget about their 16-run defeat against the Gladiators, in which they were held to 190-6 when chasing 207.
Following a practice session on Tuesday at the LCCA Ground, he informed reporters, “We competed well to defeat the Gladiators but landed on the losing side.” “We’ll do everything in our power to avoid making the same blunders we did in the first game and win our first.”
Along with Babar, Saim scored 42 during the match against Gladiators to give his team a strong start. However, after returning to the pavilion, Zalmi’s pursuit was unsuccessful.
“We are ready to compete against the Kings until the very end in the T20 format because you have to maintain momentum all the way to the finish,” Saim continued.
The Sultans, on the contrary hand, easily defeated the Kings, winning by a score of 55 runs. Tabraiz Shamsi, the spinner for the Kings, was doing the same thing as Saim—looking forward instead than backward.
Following practice on Tuesday, Shamsi told reporters, “We will take a fresh start now.” We missed the playoffs and lost a few games by the slimmest of margins the previous season, but that is behind us now. Our goal is to make it to the championship game this year, and we need to start strong tomorrow.
RECORD-TO-RECORD LOSSES
In Multan’s other game of the day, the Sultans meet the holders, the Lahore Qalandars, who have lost back-to-back games to begin their title defence.
“The entire tournament is still to play, and we will stage a comeback, so our fans should not lose hope,” Qalandars all-rounder Jahandad Khan told a news conference following his team’s five-wicket loss to the Gladiators on Monday, which came after they were defeated by Islamabad United in the season’s first game.
His captain, Shaheen Shah Afridi, offered a more severe appraisal of what his team needed to do.
“We must improve our fielding,” Shaheen stated during the post-match address. “We are breaking boundaries and losing catches easily.”
Shaheen also urged Haris Rauf to perform well in the following bout. The PCB banned Haris’ core contract two days before the PSL season began after the bowler opted out of the Test series toward Australia. He’s gone for runs throughout both matches and has only one wicket in seven overs.
“Haris Rauf is an outstanding player who always thinks positively,” added Shaheen, who also captains Pakistan’s T20 International team. “Hopefully he backs himself as well as I’m sure he’ll perform well.”
SOURCE: DAWN NEWS
