Dubai: Peshawar Zalmi captain Darren Sammy refused to get carried away even after his bowlers skittled out Lahore Qalandars for 78 to pull off an emphatic seven-wicket win at the Dubai International stadium on Sunday night.
A two-time World T20 winner as the captain of West Indies, Sammy said: “We have good bowling resources and whoever I summoned delivered today. It was a good comeback after losing the first match.”
Peshawar had lost to Quetta Gladiators in the first match by six wickets. Sammy, who believes in the motto of playing entertaining cricket, said: “We play to entertain but I like my team to be consistent. No doubt that is the type of bowling standards we have set for ourselves. We also know that bowling out a team for 70-odd runs won’t happen often but we expect our bowlers to maintain the high standard and consistency.”
Incidentally, the lowest ever total in a PSL match is 59 by Lahore against the same opposition in 2017.
Sammy wants his team to perform equally well in the Sharjah leg of the tournament which begins after a two-day break on Wednesday.
“Today was a real good comeback from the first game and hopefully we will continue the same way in the new venue in Sharjah,” added Sammy.
AB de Villiers, who led Lahore in the absence of injured skipper Mohammad Hafeez, said: “We played against a team which was on fire today and unfortunately we could not weather the storm. Hasan (Ali) set the trend and all other bowlers also bowled well. There was something there in the pitch for the new ball and hence we were unable to put a good total.”
De Villiers is not upset with the loss but is looking forward to Sharjah with hope. “There are still lot of games to be played. We know we have to work harder. We now go to Sharjah for a new chapter and hope to do well.”
De Villiers also revealed that he is enjoying every moment of the league: “It’s a fantastic franchise to be with and I have nice teammates. We need to get some good scores on the board and hopefully, a big score from me too may come soon. We hope to do well and win matches.”
Hasan Ali, who destroyed Lahore with a deadly spell of 4 for 15, said that his hard work aimed at improving his bowling has helped him produce such a spell. “I have been working hard and PSL has helped me immensely. I feel the quality of the batsmen in PSL are of high standard and bowling to such top class batsman has helped me to do well even in international matches. I am sure PSL will produce more good bowlers for Pakistan,” Ali said after receiving the Man of the Match award.
The 24-year-old Ali had come to the limelight through the PSL in 2016 and in the Pakistan’s Champions Trophy win in 2017, he had won the Player of the Tournament award.
