Sammy heaps praise on Kamran

SHARJAH: Peshawar Zalmi captain Darren Sammy has hailed discarded Pakistan Test stumper as a ‘match-winner’, stressing that the in-form player has a chance to play international cricket again.

“Look, I have always been a fan of Kamran. You know, I think a few years back when Misbah played for St Lucia Zouks, where I was captain, I have always admired him (Misbah) as a captain and he would always say that one thing that Imran Khan had told him was ‘you never drop your match winners’ and I see Kamran Akmal as a match winner in any team he plays,” Sammy said after his team qualified for the HBL PSL playoffs thanks to an unbeaten century from Kamran.

“When you have guys who take risks at the top, perform, and on any given day win you matches all by themselves… I trust in his ability. Out of ten games, he has won me three, by himself, so he is a class act and hopefully his injury is not serious because we still need him in the games to come,” he said.

“If you are performing then you are in the selectors’ eyes and that’s all Kami has to do and the focus now for him is Peshawar and to win us matches.”

Sammy also praised the spirit shown by his other team-mates. “I must commend the guys in the squad. The way we played showed our character, Hasan also came in the fifth or sixth game, we played with so many injuries but that’s not an excuse and we have peaked at the right time, so far we have taken the first step by getting into the playoffs,” he said.