Shadab Khan, the captain of Islamabad United, said on Thursday that his side will perform better in the remaining HBL Pakistan Super League games after acknowledging that the batting meltdown in their most recent game was the product of a fearless attitude. After three victories and two defeats in five games, third-placed Islamabad United will play fifth-placed Karachi Kings on Friday at the Pindi Cricket Stadium.
While Islamabad United’s track record at the Pindi Cricket Stadium isn’t great, Shadab promised at a pre-game news conference on Thursday that his team will put up a strong display to change that. Leg-spinning all-rounder added, “Because of our bold attitude, our batting disintegrated against Lahore Qalandars,” in reference to his team’s crushing 110-run defeat at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore last Monday.
Islamabad United has to improve the game
Shadab emphasized that being captain had little impact on his performances, saying that Islamabad United had been dominating the PSL for the previous two seasons. In response to the Kings’ subpar PSL-8 performance, he noted they were a major team and knew how to recover from such circumstances. So tomorrow we’re going all out against them,” he remarked. In a tight 24-run loss to Zalmi, The Kings, the 2020 PSL champions, dropped to fifth place with four points after seven PSL-8 games.
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King’s wicketkeeper/batsman Matthew Wade said on Wednesday night that his team’s last three games were crucial to their chances of making the playoffs. Left-handed Wade expressed his regret at not being able to complete the game against Peshawar Zalmi in their previous PSL-8 match on Wednesday in Rawalpindi when he hit a 41-ball 53 in the 198-run chase.
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At the post-game news conference, Wade said, “It would have been wonderful if I had completed the game; that’s my responsibility as a top-order player. As I already said, the asking rate was absurdly high; we need 12 or 13 runs per over. The Aussie stated, “I felt like if they handed the ball to me, I’d hit locations I believed I could hit and was going to take it down straight but missed it.
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“Yes, it’s sad that I wasn’t able to continue and post a higher score, but we’ll have another chance [against Islamabad United on Friday] in a few days. We have to bounce back, win the next three games, and win them well, to give ourselves a chance to make the finals,” he said.
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