I worked on variation, swing: Hamza

LAHORE: Karachi Kings left-armer Mir Hamza has been pulling off solid performances with the ball in the HBL PSL. And he said that he has worked a lot on swing and variations which are benefitting him.

“If you look at my performance in the previous two to three PSL events so it was not that good in the death overs. And to be very honest I worked a lot on it,” Mir Hamza told a post-match news conference after Karachi Kings downed Lahore Qalandars by two wickets in a last-ball thriller.

“Look if you bowl in the powerplay and you don’t swing the ball then you know you will be punished,” said Hamza, who also had a fine Australia tour last year.

“So, I worked on swing and the other thing is that you need variations in the death overs and accuracy and I also worked on it. Obviously when you perform you automatically become main bowler of your team,” Hamza said.

Besides finishing with 2-31 in his quota of four overs Hamza also took a golden single off the last ball which enabled Kings to achieve the target. Chasing 176 Karachi Kings needed one run off the last ball from spinner Ahsan Hafeez and Mir Hamza guided the ball towards leg-side to take Kings over the line, their second win from three matches. “Yes cricket is unpredictable and anything could have happened on the last ball. When I was going to bat it was in my mind that I would not play in the air and there was no fielder where I managed my stroke,” Hamza said. “Our record against Lahore was very good. No doubt Lahore are a strong side and crowd was also backing Lahore and it was a real fun,” he said.

“The way you see me taking wickets so I will tell you that I have been shouldered the responsibility to attack in the powerplay. I also try to keep economy rate well,” Hamza said. “Our dressing room environment is very good. I will give credit to Tariq bhai and Haider bhai who have kept the team’s environment very good and the team is well-gelled and all are relaxed. I think this may be the reason that our team is delivering,” he said.