I challenge Karachi to be greater: Sammy

KARACHI: Darren Sammy became the darling of a packed Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore when he led Peshawar Zalmi to an emphatic victory in the PSL final against Quetta Gladiators last year.

He was brilliant with the bat and even better with his post-final performance as he wooed the crowd with his dancing skills.

Forget Lahore, Pakistan was in love with him.

Sammy is confident that the love affair will continue when he will lead Zalmi in this year’s final but against a different team and a different venue.

He is hoping that Pashtuns, who have a sizeable population in Karachi, will support his team in big numbers in tonight’s final against Islamabad United.

“I have been told they have a lot of Pashtuns here. So I want them to come out dressing the yellow shirts. In the end, cricket is the winner and I think it’s been over 10 years that they had any sort of major cricket here,” Sammy told reporters in the pre-match conference here at the National Stadium on Saturday.

“First of all, fans in Karachi should come and support us for good cricket. And hopefully both teams could put up a great show,” the former West Indies’ captain said.

Sammy’s Zalmi have won four consecutive knockout games and is now ready to win one last one on Sunday to retain the title.

“At the start of tournament, I said we are here to defend our title. We know it was not going to be easy, but the journey has been a great one,” he said.

Sammy hailed the in-form Kamran Akmal but was quick to underline the role played by his bowling attack.

“Well, Kamran has been in red hot form. So they will be thinking how to stop my champion. But look we respect every opposition. So far our bowlers have come up with a plan against batters and that is why we are in the final.

“Tomorrow is no different. (Luke) Ronchi has had a good tournament and we have our plan for him and hopefully we will execute it and get the results we want.”

Sammy hoped that Karachi will be even better than Lahore.

“It’s good to be here. So far the city has been great. Lahore was great and I challenge Karachi to be greater,” he said.

Meanwhile, Islamabad’s JP Duminy stressed that Karachi was a new venue for both teams adding that the team adapting properly will have the upper hand.

“It’s a pitch we haven’t played on throughout this PSL so we have to assess the conditions and try to understand the strengths and weakness. Look this pretty much is same for every player in the tournament it’s slightly new in term of the condition so you have to adapt accordingly. So I think the team who adapt quickest will give themselves a better chance.”