Sikandar sees ray of hope for struggling Qalandars

ISLAMABAD: Lahore Qalandars’ top all-rounder Sikandar Raza Monday saw a ray of hope, enabling his struggling team to make it to the play-offs of the ninth edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL).

Defending champions Qalandars have three more matches to play, one against Islamabad United on the double header day at the Pindi Stadium Wednesday before playing the last two in Karachi against Kings and Multan Sultans.

Qalandars could only muster seven points which possibly would not be enough to edge out top aspirants for the play-offs. “Cricket is a funny game. You never know what happens next and where we get a chance of going through to play-offs. Though it largely depends on other teams’ results, we hope to make it to the playoffs. There is still a ray of hope of making it to the knockout stages.”

The all-rounder from Zimbabwe was also upset at his personal performance which he said had been unsatisfactory. “I don’t think my performance has been to the level which I set for myself. I am equally responsible for this low performance from Qalandars. I could have finished a few matches that had gone too close. But I didn’t, which resulted in defeats. We have to pick up our game to the highest level to get any closer to getting a place in the knockout stages. All depends on the outcome of other matches.”

Sikander said that undue pressure of being the defending champions also contributed to the lackluster performance. “We are the defending champions, the title we won two times consecutively. The pressure of being champions also has taken its toll. We continuously played under pressure which also resulted in low performance. We have to make big improvements in coming two matches to earn a place in the playoffs.”

The all-rounder praised Shaheen Afridi’s captaincy saying he made his best efforts to boost team’s morale and help team members to put up their best.

“Every team member has a role to play sadly that did not turn out to be the case which resulted in such a performance. Captain can only help you maintain a decent environment on and off the field. It is up to every member of the team to show their performance on the field.”

“Some of our key players did not click that resulted in such performance. It has nothing to do with captaincy. After all under his captaincy, Qalandars have won two back to back titles.”

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