Sharjah: Peshawar Zalmi lost a direct entry into the final by one run but they have one more chance on Friday if they can win the third qualifying final match at the Dubai International Stadium.

Peshawar’s top order batsman Mohammad Hafeez — whose brilliant knock of 77 off 47 balls with five boundaries and six sixes that went in vain on Tuesday night at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium — is hopeful. 
“We want to play the final in Lahore, we are pumped up so we will try our best to win the next game and we are committed to go to Lahore by winning the next game. As a team we want to play [in] the final.”

Hafeez’s confidence stems from the fact that his team is playing so well despite losing the match. He feels chasing a score of 200 only to lose by just one run shows the fighting spirit of his team.

“Quetta were under pressure but they controlled their nerves. We needed 20 runs in the last three overs but we unfortunately could not finish the game. Obviously there is disappointment as it was just like the same from last year. They took the game to the last over and that helped them.”

Despite losing, Hafeez enjoyed the contest.

“Twenty20 is a beautiful format and at times a low total is tricky and a big total is also tough to chase. It’s a matter of how you deal the crunch moments. Somehow we couldn’t finish the game and failed to cross the line.”

Hafeez vowed that he would not rest until his team returned to winning ways. In fact, he was not been in the best of form with the bat in this edition until this match.

“I will not be satisfied until the team wins. When I perform and the team doesn’t win, then it’s not satisfying for me. Peshawar management supported me and I thank them. They told me that I will perform in the crunch match but to my disappointment we couldn’t win.”

When asked whether his team played like the Pakistan team does in international matches, losing at crunch moments, Hafeez said: “This is PSL and this is not Pakistan team. We should finish the game. Anyone can be critical, we as a team could not win the crunch moments. We had only 20 to get in three overs and we couldn’t perform under pressure but Quetta did.”

Peshawar captain Darren Sammy, too, wants to approach the next match with a positive mind.

“I thought we did well to restrict them to 200. That was a good comeback. We took wickets upfront but [Mohammad] Hafeez and [Dawid] Malan batted well. And then Shahid [Afridi] too,” he said.

“But cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties. I refused the single first ball and then got lucky with a boundary. Luck was in favour of Quetta and Nawaz bowled well in the end. We wanted only one bite at the cherry. We did everything we could. But when you get so close, then you should have won. It was a great game of cricket. We will look to get one step further in the next game.”