Aaqib urges Lahore to bounce back

SHARJAH: Aaqib Javed tried to put up a brave face on Saturday night but was unable to hide his despondency.The former Pakistan Test pacer was brought into the fold with high hopes that he will put the previously under-achieving Lahore franchise on track in the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL).

But under his watch, Lahore have gone from bad to worse.Lahore have lost all their five matches in PSL season 3 and have gone down in most of them without putting up much of a fight.

They were particularly horrible in Saturday night’s mismatch against Peshawar Zalmi at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium where Lahore became the first team in PSL history to suffer the ignominy of a ten-wicket defeat.

So bad were Lahore both with the bat and ball that Aaqib, the team’s head coach, was forced to concede that he hasn’t witnessed such abject failure in 30 years.Aaqib, who replaced Paddy Upton at the helm of Qalandars, rued the fact that so far Lahore’s batters have failed to capitalise on good starts.

“At least one of the top-order batsmen needs to convert that good start-off into 70 or more runs,” Aaqib told reporters.“You expect senior players — such as Brendon McCullum, Fakhar Zaman, Umar Akmal, and Denesh Ramdin — to take responsibility,” he stressed.

Aaqib, who is himself under intense fire from critics and fans over his inability to inspire Lahore, also offered a piece of advice for the team’s vice captain, the big-hitting Fakhar Zaman.“Fakhar Zaman ought to change his style once the power play concludes,” he said.“We brought him against Liam Dawson in today’s match so that he would be able to strike a major knock.”